Chicagoland
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| The Chicago Skyway at 4 a.m. |
After getting 4 hours of sleep, going to two auditions, and getting lost for a couple of hours I was on long weekend getaway! First stop, yummy taco stand with the boys. I actually got to go there by riding on the back of a scooter! It was super fun. Although I was told to lean into the turns and I said, "how about I hold on and hope that I don't die instead." I have a flair for the dramatic. Of course they brought me to a delicious spot in the middle of hipsterville. It was amazing people watching.
Totally cracked out from the drive and lack of sleep, we turned in early. That and the fact that my friends in Chicago apparently do not sleep past 6:30 a.m. and by 7:30 they were at the Anderson Green Market in Lincoln Park. I made it there by 8:30 - who the hell am I? It was gorgeous. Lots of delicious looking strawberries, rhubarb, yummy crepes, and a cooking demos. And to top it all off, it was next to the zoo! Lions, tigers, and polar bears oh my!
After that we headed to the Greek Festival where my friend Laura was playing with her band. The spanikopita was ridic! And the baklava was perfect. Gooey, but not too sweet. We also played a game of corn hole and I have to say I was AWESOME! I mean the last time I played I was embarrassingly bad, but this time I was pretty amazing. That night I had a delicious dinner with my girlfriend at this delightful organic restaurant near Wrigley Field where some Cubs fans told me that "[they] liked my style, but liked my boobs better." Ah, how charming.
On Sunday chef Jake
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| Chef Jake preparing our delicious brunch. |
hosted a brunch at chez Kelly. He made a delicious quiche with Capriko (a yummy goat and sheep's milk) cheese, asparagus, onion, and potato with a bitter green salad, orange, pink grapefruit, flash cooked peas, lemon vinegrette, and edible flowers.
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| The Quiche. It was rich and delicious. It didn't feel heavy at all. Infact two of us could have easily eaten the whole thing ourselves! The light bitter greens salad was a delightful foil to the creamy richness of the quiche. |
The main event was homemade waffles with with roasted banana bourbon sauce, strawberry rhubarb sauce and homemade cinnamon whipped cream. Yum! There were also mimosas and delightful coffee. A lovely brunch.
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| Gluten free? Who is gluten free? These waffles were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and the whipped cream was to die for. Seriously delicious. |
That evening for dinner, prior to the Game of Thrones season finale, we had tacos. I made the beans, Laura did massive amounts of prep, God bless her, and Jake cooked the meat and cleaned around me while I made a mess and baked, and Andrew worked. There was a lot of sauce left from brunch so we wanted to make a dessert that would be really good with said sauces. So, I immediately thought Angel Food Cake. It pretty much goes with anything especially delightful homemade sauces.
Here is the thing, it takes a dozen egg whites to make one angel food cake. Yowzers. What can I do with all those egg yolks. If there was one thing I learned from all of my failed French macaron tries it is that egg yolks make a delightful lemon curd. And funny enough tastes awesome with Angel Food Cake. BINGO! We also got some chocolate ice cream for the banana bourbon sauce because I haven't figured out how the hell to make ice cream without an ice cream maker yet.
I haven't made an angel food cake from scratch in a long time or perhaps ever. It is wild to see the egg whites get stiff. I mean it takes up the whole mixer bowl. I was also afraid of over folding when I added the flour, et. al. I guess I am gun shy from the French macaron debacle. But honestly, it is actually super easy to make a delicious and spongy angel food cake.
And lemon curd is pretty easy too. You just have to be there, be present, and stir until the mixture gets thick. I also like to add a teaspoon of corn starch at the very end, which is a total cheat, to make sure that it really stands up. And before you even refrigerate it you have to strain it and then put it in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap touching the surface to avoid creating a grody film. The great thing about lemon curd is that as long as it is in an airtight container it lasts for a long time in the refrigerator and it is so refreshing and delicious especially in the summer.
When I took the angel food cake out of the oven it looked gorgeous! Golden, beautiful, and spongy. I almost forgot, and thank you Kate for reminding me, that you have to turn an angel food cake upside down for an hour before you take it out of the cake pan.
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| The cake upside down while we ate yummy tacos! |
When it came out it was perfection. Total perfection.
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| Ready and waiting. |
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| Before |
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| Angel food cake with lemon curd, blackberries, and strawberry rhubarb sauce. Thanks to Laura for the food styling! |
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| Angel food cake with chocolate gelato, strawberry rhubarb sauce, and the roasted banana bourbon sauce. |
Such a lovely weekend of friends, food, and frolic.
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