Umami with Mara

Summer rolls

When Mara was visiting a few weeks ago, we went to Umami for dinner. We had the summer rolls, the sesame seaweed salad with shiitake mushrooms, the mixed greens salad, and the tonkatsu ramen with a garlic bomb. The summer rolls were a tad bland, but, as always, the seaweed salad and tonkatsu ramen were marvelous.

Seaweed salad

Tonkatsu ramen

Stuffing our Faces in January

Jerky!

Way back in January, Naomi and Bill from the Cities graced us with their presence for a visit. Based on the pics, all we did was eat, but we did also hit a few thrift stores and N. + B. attended a Father John Misty concert.

Bloody Mary at the Old Fashioned

Keeling over for Kielbasa

Awhile back, I had some fresh kielbasa sausages from the Willy St. Co-op in the freezer. They were meant for someone else, but I decided to make them for myself. I used the recipe for Escarole with Italian Sausage and White Beans from Epicurious. (See my swaps and substitutions below the recipe.)

Seared sausages

3 tablespoons olive oil

12 Italian sausages (about 3 pounds), casings removed

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped prosciutto (about 2 ounces)

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

1 large head escarole, chopped (about 10 cups)

3/4 cup dry white wine

4 15-ounce cans Great Northern beans, rinsed, drained

1 cup chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese (optional)

Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat. Working in batches, sauté sausage until cooked through, breaking up with back of spoon, about 6 minutes per batch. Using slotted spoon, transfer sausage to bowl, leaving drippings in pot. Reduce heat to medium; add onion to pot and sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add prosciutto and sauté 1 minute. Mix in garlic and crushed red pepper. Add escarole and sauté until wilted, about 2 minutes. Add wine and cook 2 minutes. Add beans, stock and sausage and simmer 10 minutes to blend flavors. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to large bowl. Top with grated Parmesan, if desired.

Éirinn go Brách

Over the holidays, J. and I visited his sister and her family in the west of Ireland.

at the Detroit airport

Guinness at a local pub

Throwing rocks with grandma 

The last remaining yew

A short walk down the lane from their house is Aughnanure Castle. This 16th-century tower house, or a fortified residence, was owned by the wealthy, land-owning O'Fflahertie (O'Flaherty) family. More than 200 such tower houses exist just in County Galway. The name Aughnanure comes from the Gaelic Achadh na nlubhar, which means the field of the yews. One representative of the yew trees still remains on the grounds.

Thanksgiving in Chitown

First, we went to the Christkindlmarket, a German open-air market, for a snack. Now, a snack at the market consisted mostly of meaty bits.

Christkindlmarket

That evening, we saw a great production of A Christmas Carol at the Goodman Theater.

Goodman Theater's stage

After the play, we went to Quartino, a lovely wine bar, for a light dinner, and then on to a local jazz club.

Souptacular!

Last Sunday, the first annual Souptacular was launched with great fanfare. Each of us made a soup-- or two. I made French onion soup and vegetarian tortilla soup, A. made north African cauliflower soup, and S. made curried carrot soup with roasted pistachios. Recipes were gathered from several sources, and I've included them below.

The grrl waiting to tuck in. (Check out A.'s adorable apron, which was inherited from her grandma.)

Curried carrot soup topped with roasted pistachios

Dorowot

I was resisting the colder temperatures by creating a tropical-looking drink. (It's actually a red wine spritzer with a sprig of rosemary in a pretty glass.)

Dorowot or doro wot is an Ethiopian chicken stew in a spicy tomato sauce. To get the flavors just right, you really need to use berbere, an Ethiopian spice blend, and nit'r qibe, Ethiopian spiced butter. I might purchase some berbere online to have on hand in the future, but this time, I wasn't able to find it in any local markets.

Instead, I used the 365 Days recipe (see link below) because I'm still infatuated with my crockpot. (I know. I'm a late convert to this trend.) I added carrots during the last hour--so they didn't completely break down--as an homage to Buraka's yummerly version. (Buraka also gets a nod for introducing me to dorowot.) I also tossed in a few handfuls of spinach for a little green. 365 Days' spice blend left a little to be desired, so I used the Saveur berbere recipe as a guideline. I didn't, however, go through the whole process of toasting the spices and grinding them into a powder. I just tossed them into the crockpot, using fresh ginger instead of powdered. Oh, and I omitted the hard-boiled egg because that combo doesn't appeal to me--and because I didn't feel like boiling eggs.

I used this recipe from 365 Days of Slow Cooking and this one from Saveur.

The Brussels sprouts were sauteed in olive oil and granulated garlic. Slivers of prosciutto were added at the end because I didn't want the prosciutto to get tough from overcooking.

Dinner and a Movie

A few weekends ago, a group of us went to Luigi's Pizza for dinner and then watched The Campaign. Among the four of us, we had an Italian chef salad, a fancy salad, a prosciutto and arugula pizza (after swapping out the white sauce for red sauce), and a fugetaboutit pizza. For dessert, we all split a slice of tiramisu.

This shot was taken in the restaurant's entryway. I wanted to wear this adorable dress one more time before the cold weather set in. I pick it up at Target late this summer, and I adore it.

Festing

Sona, Sola, + I on the dancefloor at the World Music Festival

at the Orton Park Festival

Victory!

A group of us hunkered down at the Baldwin St. Grille to watch the election results come in. I didn't stay to hear the acceptance and concession speeches--in fact, I was asleep by 10:30pm--but a good time was held by all. And we were mostly happy with the results: Mourdock and Akin voted out, Elizabeth Warren voted in, Barack Obama re-elected for four more years, and Tammy Baldwin proudly elected our senator. The only part I wasn't thrilled with was our state legislature's red turn. Alas, we can't have everything we want.

Partying like it's 2012

Just a few shots from my 35th birthday extravaganza in September, which included a picnic by the lake, dinner at Umami, shopping at reThreads west and dinner at Eno Vino, and dinner and La Brioche cake at A. + H.'s house. Oh, and the boy bought me my very own bocce ball set. I can't wait to try them out. Woot!

B.'s tutu transformed me into a birthday nymph

Delicious cake from La Brioche