Food Bloggers Come To Chicago

Katie and I had the great pleasure of meeting nearly 30 food bloggers from around the country on Friday.  They were in town for the BlogHer conference taking place at Navy Pier, and were nice enough to invite us to join them for dinner at Lao Sze Chuan in Chinatown. At first, Katie was going [...]

RA Sushi Bar Restaurant – Lombard, IL

We’re pretty understanding when it comes to visiting a new restaurant in their opening weeks. Kinks need to be worked out. Dishes need to be finalized. We get that. But this past weekend, we had what is now officially the winner of “Worst Dining Experience Ever.” I cannot, CANNOT, emphasize this enough. Please, for the [...]

She knows what sells

No one can say Giada doesn’t know what makes her so popular.  And Esquire is surely taking advantage.

Potato Bread, Day One

Unlike the pretzel bread, where I had a specific taste I was going for, the potato bread is more a mystery to me.  All I know is that I love using potato bread for sandwiches, and I can pretend it’s healthier than white bread. But, the recipe I used today, while producing a decent tasting [...]

Cheetos Crusted Potato Chips

This isn’t healthy. There’s no way around that fact. These are in fact the result of boredom gone untethered. This is what happens when a bored guy asks the question, “What would a potato chip covered in Cheetos taste like?” The answer? Pretty tasty. I personally thought they could use a more pronounced Cheetos flavor.  [...]

Pitchfork Music Festival in Food

I didn’t get a chance to take photos of all the food, but I did get the important stuff, namely a closeup of the ćevapčići.   What is ćevapčići?  According to Wikipedia… Ćevapi or ćevapčići (diminutive) is a dish of grilled minced meat kebabs, found in the Balkans. They may be served on a plate or [...]

Signature Pretzel Bread

As promised, here is my recipe for the finished pretzel bread.  It’s seriously quite popular in my office, and that means I did something right. Mike’s Signature Pretzel Bread – makes 2 small loaves 2 ¼ tsp yeast 1 cup water (110-120 degrees) 2 Tbsp room temperature milk 1 Tbsp dark brown sugar 3 Tbsp [...]

Pretzel Bread, Finally

After a week of recipe tinkering, and a grand total of 17 loaves of bread, I seem to have found the recipe that I was looking for when it comes to Pretzel Bread.  The secret?  Dark brown sugar and plenty of butter.  I’ve even gotten a couple orders from coworkers to make them some loaves. [...]

Thank You, Come Again

In case some of you haven’t heard, there’s a small indie film coming out at the end of the month called The Simpsons Movie.  I don’t know if it has much of a fan base or not.  But, who’s to say what America will like. I kid of course.  Everyone has to know that the [...]

Working Towards A Dream – Part 1

I’m on vacation this week, which means I’m finally able to start working towards my goal of getting good enough at baking that I could one day make baking and pastry a viable career. I’m starting easy, or easier than others at least, in trying to make a good pretzel bread. Ever since eating those [...]