Dessert: Bake Chicago

This is one of my favorite bakeries, admittedly for the extremely adorable vibe. I have to be honest about that. This is what I think my house should look like. The treats are also delicious, but I usually can't eat as much I see in the counter and I think that adds an element of (very temporary) sadness. This is Bake. It even has an awesome name and logo. I know, unrelated to taste. They had run out of most treats by the time we got there, which was too bad because I really wanted a chocolate chip-involved cookie. 

 I did end up getting a Bailey's chocolate cupcake. There was a little too much frosting for me, but that is a problem easily solved by scooping it off my cupcake and giving it to Nitin. The cupcake part was perfect though.

I like the horrifying awkwardness of this picture. My effort to take more pictures, especially of people, is being exhibitioned in a very forced manner. But somehow I like it. We look strange and the positions are awkward but it's very us. And technically it was taken on a table with no one looking through the lens, so I think I will choose to interpret it as having come out shockingly well.

Hoanh Long- Vietnamese

"Jocelyn, I'm wearing my baller sweatshirt today for your blog." And with Nitin's statement, we embarked on our journey to Hoanh Long in North Park. For anybody who is Chicago neighborhood crazy (okay, mostly for myself because I'm a little bit neighborhood crazy), North Park seems to be just slightly northwest of Edgewater. Besides a foray onto Devon Ave, where our ethnic food experiences began, I'm really unfamiliar with the area. You go a few blocks north and you start getting confused about whether you're still in Chicago.

First thing I learned is not as much about the food as it was about us. We are not photogenic. Nitin doesn't look bad in his baller sweatshirt, but I'm including this picture of me and Saad for two reasons, and they are simple ones. A) Observe his shirt. This is possibly my favorite shirt of all time, anywhere. It is rambunctious, and Saad wears it with pride. B) Saad's face in this picture is halfway there to his "consideration" face. When he tests something out and decides it's actually pretty good, he makes this face. It's pretty elusive and its full effect has yet to be captured on camera. I have lofty dreams of getting it someday.

Nitin was the most excited to try pho. He kept making pho jokes like, "Pho sho," and "Pho no!" Saad and I tried, but we were not as talented as we hoped to be (much like medical school and many other functions of daily life). I've had pho before at Pho 777 (I couldn't remember the name of it, which is why we tried this new place and I'm glad we did), but Nitin and Saad had not. I definitely love their willingness to try new things so fearlessly.

The reason I love pho is that it tastes simple and nuanced at the same time. It has so much flavor to experience, but is not overwhelming at all. And the best part about it is that it achieves this flavor without just being a strong salty sodium-esque taste. Nitin thought his was too minty, but I only tasted the subtlest flavor of mint, if at all. Just another indication of Nitin's body shutting down.

We also got this dish. I can't remember the name of it, even though I have had it at Chinese restaurants every weekend I, as a 5-year-old hater of food (especially Chinese food), considered a torturous family friend dinner. The difference was that this dish had short, flat noodles (they are the white things in this picture). I enjoyed it a lot. I definitely applaud this restaurant for its strong flavors that didn't overpower everything else.

Bobtail Ice Cream Company

I'm having a really hard time putting pictures up today for some reason, but today's 68 degree weather inspired me to share some (unfortunately, not all) of the pictures from our post-Crisp expedition to Bobtail Ice Cream Company. Embarrassingly enough, it was not 68 degrees when we went to get this ice cream. In fact, it was probably 30 degrees and snowing. Although my other pictures won't upload right now, I personally was comforted by the fact that there were many other people getting their ice cream fix in. Not that one ever needs to justify ice cream.

I ordered the Espresso-flavored one. Coffee ice cream is my favorite when done right. For some reason though, I'm a little bit picky about it. As in Saad-level picky. And Saad is the master of being weirdly picky about seemingly menial things. That's a post all its own. I didn't love the flavor, although the ice cream itself was very creamy and obviously very high quality. I did enjoy Saad's Cookie Dough ice cream. I can't quite remember what he said about it (Note to self: start recording Saad's hilariously strange commentary on food). I can't say that I know what Nitin ordered either, since he quietly/sneakily ordered a good five minutes before Saad or I even realized what sizes were available. This is what I'm saying about our pickiness. Perhaps Nitin has gotten used to our slowness (and we often wonder why it takes us three times as long as it should to accomplish any task). 

I thought this shop was adorable and would be so much fun to visit in the summer. It exudes carefree summertime that can be felt year-round. The ice cream had an amazing texture and weight to it. I'll be back.

Crisp- Korean

About a month ago, my friends Saad and Nitin and I visited Devon Avenue. I love that street. The tacky shiny nightlights remind me of Asia. It's perfect. Although I forgot to blog about it, I did take some pictures that I had forgotten about. We decided that night that we would try new cuisines of all different cultures. Shortly thereafter, Saad and I started a Google document to keep track of all the different countries' foods we wanted to try. The thing I love about Google Docs is that it is totally live and you can see as the other person is typing comments. This led to Saad and I commenting back and forth about different ideas (mostly unproductive ideas about how we should find a person of the same ethnicity as the food to take with us and explain to us what was going on- via Craigslist, obviously). But also to Yelp links of different possibilities. Nitin had been keeping his Gmail account a secret from me but eventually I was able to share the document with him and he thought that Saad and my comments must have been those of at least four people. That's pretty much accurate. He has been fixating over the idea of Vietnamese Pho. "Pho sho," he says.

Right after our Anatomy exams last Wednesday and too tired to research which Pho restaurant to try, Saad and I decide that we should try Crisp, a restaurant that we had frequently driven past in the Lakeview neighborhood. It's Korean food and absolutely delicious. We actually became a little suspicious of its absolute authenticity, but as we had no Korean counterpart to give us the 411, we went with it. The sauces and flavors for both the chicken bowl (chicken and sticky-ish rice) and barbeque chicken were amazing.

You can split wings half and half with different sauces- we decided to do that with the 10 wing set and got both the Seoul Sassy and Crisp BBQ flavorings. Although they both hold a dear place in my heart, I preferred the Seoul Sassy just a little bit to the Crisp BBQ and Nitin felt the opposite. Saad had a picky, nuanced opinion in his weird Saad ways that would take too long to explain here, as per most of Saad's thoughts and ideas.

We had a really good time here and accidentally stayed past closing. Nitin is using our cultural experience to search out good future date spots. I would be very impressed with any guy attempting to woo me if he knew of such delicious and unique places. Likewise, I would be very impressed with any guy I took to places serving food that he has possibly never tried before who keeps an open mind about it all. Very important.

Next Door Cafe

I recently discovered this coffeeshop, Next Door, presumably whilst wasting time on Yelp. People (including myself) seem confused about this place because it is owned by State Farm and is in a large space, yet seems to give off a small, community feel. Multiple vibes leading to confusion=fair enough. I'm not here to end the confusion, only to suggest that they make delicious lattes (depending on who's making it, one of the best I've had) and chili caliente. They attempt to build a sense of community by offering free classes (mostly financial- and yoga-based), as well as things like Super Bowl viewings. These things are all displayed prominently on a huge chalkboard. In my eyes, such a chalkboard is getting pretty close to living the dream.

Also, these huge moving cubicles are awesome if you need a private space. Overall, the vibe isn't my favorite because there is so much white. But I like that it is airy and spacious. And did I mention the amazing coffee? It is really good. As in, impossible that it is from State Farm unless they hired some sort of coffee expert to handle this, good.

We are, however, not a huge fan of the hot chocolate. Saad, whose caffeine of choice is in the form of energy drinks, usually tries hot chocolate wherever we go. We have a running list of good hot chocolate places. Unfortunately, Next Door probably is at the bottom of the list.

The above is Saad's political statement. He was a very good sport in letting me take this picture when I noticed the bottom of the mugs.

My favorite moment was when the barista asked how the grilled cheese was. When we (truthfully) answered that they were amazing (at times, I'm prone to hyperbole; this is not), he responded totally deadpan "Oh, that's because I put crack in them." So smooth Saad didn't even hear what he actually said and, following my cue, pretended to laugh and only when the barista was out of earshot did he say, "Wait, what did he say?"

Conclusion: go here to study and enjoy delicious food and drink. Not the coziest place, but definitely a nice spot, especially to go meet people who are interested in exchanging ideas.

i met somebody, flirtatious socialite

I started out writing this as, "The past two weeks felt like..." and a bunch of words popped into my head. Words like "hell," "I got sucked into a gauntlet," "I was kicked to the ground and then was kicked some more (by someone wearing steel-toed shoes)," and "I was toyed with physically and emotionally. Repeatedly." All of these statements are not gross exaggerations and are completely factual. However, I think what feeling expresses the post-exams feeling best is that it was a little bit life-changing. In a perspective-shifting way. The other thought that comes to mind is "I have re-emerged!" But then I realize I should probably stop being so annoying.

The thing is, I realized that I could do it. Taking six exams in genetics, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, and gross anatomy has a way of breaking people down. I think I best understood that I was on the verge of having an emotional breakdown when I was in the midst of telling my brother that the reason I treat him like crap was because I was trying to help him be a better person. I laugh at it now, but that was pretty much as low as it got. And then I studied. And succeeded.

Last night, I had a horrifying nightmare about trying to drive to a coffeeshop to study with my friend Ashley in a car that had brakes that didn't quite work. But if you pressed them really hard, and ridiculously early, like 50 yards before the stop sign, you would probably stop on time. So the effects of extreme testing are lasting and we do not escape completely unscathed. But many things helped get me through these few weeks.

Not low on the list would be coffee. About two or three years ago, I decided to go discover independent Chicago coffeeshops. I had nothing against Starbucks (at the time), but I had this idea that it would be fun to see what else was out there. What ensued pretty much opened my view of what Chicago had to offer. Before that, I thought there were a lot of places downtown, but I started taking buses and trains and had people drive with me when necessary. This process resulted in what I consider to be a very comprehensive outlook on what was going on in the coffee world. But at the same time, it also helped me discover the city that had always seemed big, almost too big.

Particularly, I got to explore the neighborhoods that I ventured into. I definitely have had a lot of adventures and formed many opinions along the way about where the nice baristas work, what spaces are conducive to studying and which to socializing. The best is running into a barista from one shop who is relaxing at another shop who tells me that the only reason that it's okay I'm there is because the other shop is closed. The thought of missing out on all the characters, ideas, and conversations I've come across is staggering. I'm possibly just waxing nostalgic because before today, I hadn't had coffee in 3 whole days.

I haven't been able to find a good resource for all the coffeeshops I've visited in Chicago. Most of them seem to have big gaping holes in them or perhaps I just haven't come across any, but I thought it'd be nice to have a good compilation of places and also to help me remember some things I've done. And I seriously need to make use of my obsessive Yelp-ing. That's my number one answer when people ask me how I found such random places. They don't seem random to me; they seem all interconnected somehow. But I know that can be hard to see. So I think I'll post my first look at tomorrow. Although it may be less useful in a practical sense to non-Chicagoans, hopefully it'll still be fun to see these interesting places.

P.S. I made some changes with the appearance of things around here. I liked the previous format because it was easy for me, but there were a lot of limitations to what I had control over in terms of how everything looked and it was starting to bother me. The picture I used in the banner is one that I took at Next Door Cafe. I thought this particular barista had brilliant designs in the lattes he made.

P.P.S. Phew, that was a lot of words.

airplanes

One thing about me: I love airplanes. I took this picture of Chicago from my flight home from Miami the first time I went in March. I usually don't get to fly directly over the city, just because of where I had been flying in from (usually, westbound), but last year I flew south and east a lot, so this became a sight I got to see and love.

I could watch this video forever.


In Kaohsiung, Taiwan, my aunt and uncle's friends own this place that I can't even describe, except to say that you can sit outside the patio of a restaurant and watch airplanes take off and land. It's amazing.

boldness has genius, power, and magic in it

I took this picture of the storefront of Two-Sided in Lakeview, Chicago.

"Seize this very minute; what you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."

-Johann Wolfgang

Be bold- reminder for today and always.

Duck N Roll and Get Curried Away

Here are the other two savory food trucks that I went to last week. Duck'N'Roll was my absolute favorite of all the ones we tried. Saad and I both had the Duck Gumbo. It was amazing. It was spicy and flavorful without being over-the-top. Perfect ingredients, which, according to the website, included duck, spicy turkey sausage, smoked beef sausage, jalapenos, corn, carrots, celery, onions, tomatoes. Nitin ordered the thai curry chicken bánh mì. I only had a bite, but it was a bite that packed quite a punch.

On Friday, we went to Get Curried Away. I really liked the chicken masala but didn't like the chickpeas as much. Saad thought just the opposite though. I love Indian food and am always looking to try different places so I can get a more holistic eating experience so this was great.

Next post.... the sweet food trucks.

This was a rogue food truck that wasn't supposed to be at our school that particular day, but came back... hopefully because it had great success the day before and not because it was confused. I think the idea of food trucks having a mind of their own and just cavorting around the city streets is a funny one.

Brown Bag Lunch (Food Truck #1)

 

Last week, my school organized a "Truckin' for Haiti" event in which a variety of food trucks came for the lunch hours. People lined up. Some of the proceeds went to Haiti. As anyone with limited time is prone to do, I researched carefully and decided what trucks I'd be visiting.

First up. On Wednesday, Denise and I went to Brown Bag Lunch Truck. I tried the Pulled Pork. Here's the information, according to the menu:

brine: pineapple juice, mexicoke, chinese black vinegar, kosher salt

smoke: applewood or cherry wood, oak
tea party sauce: banana ketchup, earl grey tea, green tea, rice wine vinegar, kecap manis, ginger

I'm not a food blogger so I can't say that I tasted all those things. But I did love the smoky flavor of the meat. The sauce was also delicious- a little bit like sweet barbeque sauce. But the pure flavor of the meat without the sauce was perfect. My dad taught me to be a purist. Sometimes, though, the sauce is too good to resist.

Denise had wanted to order the spicy elotes (charred whole corn on the cob, spicy japanese mayo, shaved parmigiano reggiano, cilantro, lime juice), but they didn't have those. They did, however, offer supposedly the same combination in "pudding" form. I was glad she was down to try it because the corn on the cob sounded so good. The pudding sounded weird. When she opened her container, it wasn't pudding as we expected, but looked more like a pie. We must not be fancy enough foodies to know what that really is. It tasted delicious, though- kind of like cornbread. 

I feel like people with more sensitive palates are probably sensing all their taste buds die at my 3 AM attempts to describe food with a rather limited foodcabulary (okay, vocabulary in general...). She also had kimchi toasted garlic rice (jasmine rice, kimchi, toasted garlic, oil, kosher salt), which I thought was delicious as well. 

And we just had to photograph the mini Chinese takeout box. I heard that they have chicken and bacon waffles. Must. Track. Down. I view this as an accomplishment toward my Eat Delicious Foods goal. So great to have such achievable goals.

goals: give flowers

Goal for 2012: Buy flowers for someone. The perfect opportunity presented itself when a bunch of tango students decided that we wanted to present our teachers with flowers at the Winter Ball. I am sad that I totally forgot to take a picture of what I chose from the Chicago Flower Company, but it looked a little bit like this. Pink lilies, white flower mums, eggplant calla lilies, and green berries. I wanted to make sure it looked great so I was a little bit obsessive about handpicking the bouquet, but the flower shop owner was great and let me do my own thing. I've never bought flowers for anyone before, but I would definitely recommend this florist because when I apologized for taking forever and being annoying, he denied it and even gave us a discount for "being cool." It was a very chill experience, even for someone like me who wanted a perfect bouquet. I even learned that hydrangeas don't hold up well in a bouquet that will be sitting out all night. Most importantly, the recipients were thrilled and said they were just to their taste.

[image from here]

ode to food trucks

Things that are not awesome:
1. I spent more time researching food trucks last night than I spent studying, until 12 AM hit, and I was on point.

Things that are awesome:
1. The Brown Bag Lunch Truck. My school has organized a Truckin' for Haiti fundraiser and got some food trucks to come all this week to school. The only problem is... I don't really go to school. Not to sound like a slacker or anything, but I'm a slacker because all classes are recorded. However, we had lab today so I figured I might as well try it. More on that later.

2. The food was delicious and benefited a good cause.

3. This playlist by wit + delight to help me wake up in the morning. I love this site in general, it's full of awesome and lovely stuff.

4. I think I'm going to take advantage of food trucks coming into the area for the next two days and (over)indulge.

paris club

My good friend James and I went to Paris Club on Saturday evening. And by evening, I mean 4:30 PM. Apparently, it is totally an old person thing to do, but there are many benefits to doing this. First, you avoid lines and really, any sort of wait. James and I had tried to come here a few months ago around 7 PM, but ended up being told that we wouldn't be able to eat until 10 PM. Just get here a few hours earlier, and the bar and dining room are your oyster. Additionally, you may find that halfway through your meal, you are informed that you got the Happy Hour special, which at Paris Club is 50% off all appetizers. And finally, you finish eating around 6:30 and by the time you get home, including taking the train the wrong direction the first time, it's only 7:30. Okay, so that's the old person part.

Anyway, this place made me miss Paris. It made me miss the entire past year when I nannied, ran birthday parties, worked at the gym, did whatever I could to save money to travel.

We ordered Escargot Bourguignonne, French Onion Fondue (Gruyere), Chicken Terrine, and Frites Fromage (amazing dip for the fries)- not pictured.

I didn't like the chicken terrine as much, although it was still good. Everything else was phenomenal in taste. Here are a few pictures of us- I'm looking way excited about the escargot that looked like a little mushroom cap. And I wanted to take a picture of James with the Eiffel Tower print behind him. We had a lot of fun catching up after my semester of disappearance.

Sorry about the delay- I am still in the midst of a full-on do nothing recovery session!