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Juice Tonight and where I've been

We had a run of eating out due to being out of the house so much in the past few days.

I spent last Friday seeing two movies with a friend, "Anomalisa" and "The Big Short."  We got a glass of wine and some fried calamari and by then it was about 3:30 and I wasn't in the mood to make juice. 

Talked Sweetie into checking out a nearby Thai place, Star of Siam.  Ick.  They claimed to have Massaman curry, but it tasted like Jif with pineapple chunks.  What is this, 1976?  I was seriously disappointed.  The spring rolls even had some sort of syrupy-vinegary mess all over them.  Not sure what they were thinking.

Saturday was spent house hunting.  We got home about four after neither of us had much to eat that day so we checked out a nearby Irish pub, Timothy O'Toole's, that had pretty good food.   No Irish beers oddly enough, other than Guinness, but they had some buffalo chicken rolls that were interesting.  Might have liked them better if they'd had a little more crunch inside.  Fish and Chips were excellent.  I'm a sucker for fish and chips.  Sweetie had some veggie tacos, I think, and some other veggie side.

Sunday was sort of a repeat of Saturday and had us stopping into Volare, a really good Italian joint around the corner.  We had a seafood mixed grill and I had a black spaghetti and seafood pasta.  It was really good and was still good for leftovers Monday.  Sweetie had a veal thing with a cold roasted vegetable salad.  I'd go back there.

Monday night we were all about the house and decided we wanted to go back to look at the neighborhood again and check out the house.  A lot of the good restaurants were closed Monday nights, but one little spot, A Tavalo, was open and I managed to snag us a reservation there.  We're in the midst of Chicago Dining Week(s), so we opted for the prix fixe option, which got me a nice argula salad with walnuts and a tangy vinagrette paired with some pasta (not al dente, sadly) and Bolognese sauce and then some perfectly cooked short ribs over saffron polenta, I think.  That was quite good.  Came with dessert.  It's still in the fridge.  Lots and lots of food.  Sweetie started with some tasty roasted vegetables, great gnocchi, and a roasted chicken and spinach entree that he rather enjoyed.  I thought maybe the chicken was a little over done.  We split his flourless chocolate cake.  That was quite good.

Tuesday night, it just so happened that a friend was in town, so we went out with him to Niu Japanese Fusion Lounge which was quite good.  It was our second time there.  Salmon sashimi, scallops wrapped in bacon, seaweed salad, miso soup, and a bunch of other things were had to great effect.  It was a really good meal.  I was impressed.

Wednesday night, we went out one more time to celebrate the acceptance of our offer on our new house in Chicago.  This time we hit RPM Steak due to having a gift certificate we could use there.  This place really impressed me.  I wasn't expecting to like it for some reason.  We started with a tuna tartare that was just awesome, followed by a shredded kale salad.  We split the salad and it was still more than enough!  We each got steaks, I a Rib eye called "The Duke" and Sweetie a 28 day dry-aged NY Strip.  For sides we had some tasty, crispy Brussels Sprouts and some oyster mushrooms with wild garlic.  Wow.  Somehow ate every bit of it.  We finished with a cheesecake with blueberries for me and a glass of port.  Sweetie had a Nutella bread pudding that he enjoyed.

So tonight, we have to get back on the wagon and I think I've loaded said wagon up well with:

4 apples
1 pear
1 turnip
1 pinky of turmeric
1 chunk of ginger
1 pound of carrots
3 huge golden beets with the greens
1 nice-sized jicama
1 bunch of kale
3 stalks of celery
2 large English cucumbers
1 good-sized zucchini

I must have 16 cups or so of juice.  Plenty for tonight, breakfast, and some for Sweetie's lunch tomorrow.  Yum!
  

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