Pro Bono Baker

Homemade Soda Pop

Over the last few weeks Nick has been experimenting with homemade soda recipes.  A lovely article on homemade root beer in the most recent issue of Saveur provided the catalyst. These days, store bought sodas use carbonated water to provide the necessary bubbles, though traditionally yeast was used to carbonate the beverage.  However, this gives the soda an ABV of around two or three percent -- rendering it unsaleable to those under 21 in our country (you'd likely get ill before being able to consume enough to become even a bit tipsy).

The method for making soda is similar to homebrewing beer.  Nick made root beer first, using the Saveur article as a guide.  In the first photo you can see the spices wrapped in cheesecloth that steeped in the boiling water.  Sassafras root, sarsaparilla root, birch bark, licorice root, ginger, vanilla bean and molasses provided a superb aroma.

More recent creations have included ginger ale (pictured above, and my personal favorite so far) and sarsaparilla soda.  Nick has been using the book Homemade Root Beer, Soda & Pop as well as various internet sources to create recipes.  Cream soda is coming up next!

Baltimore

At the end of June I traveled to Baltimore with my office and several hundred of the nation's preeminent oncologists.  My trip was a bit rocky due to a canceled flight, a delayed flight and a botched Super Shuttle reservation.  I arrived at the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront at about 2 am and soon began a succession of very early morning work hours.  One of the only perks with this work schedule was the ability to order room-service.

My room was huge, with two walls of floor to ceiling windows looking over the harbor, a king size bed and a large television.  I spent a few nice mornings with the sun rising over the harbor, the history channel and satisfying diner food delivered right to my door. 

The food wasn't stellar, but it hit the spot.  I documented the occasion more for the novelty of the room-service experience than the culinary prowess of the Marriott kitchens.

My friend Mike grew up in Baltimore.  During our senior years at Reed College, Mike, Tamara and I ran Renn Fayre together.  Mike was also a guiding force behind Beer Nation, which kept those of age happily saturated with Northwest micro brew in campus beer gardens.  Naturally, Mike did not lead me astray with Baltimore beer advice.  I was able to make two visits to A Brewer's Art, once with my co-worker Aaron and a second time to meet up with my dear cousin Matt and his girlfriend Ana.  Matt and Ana had just relocated to Washington D.C. from Portland, Oregon and were kind enough to drive down on Matt's birthday to say hello to me.  While A Brewer's Art brews several delicious beers, their Resurrection Ale (an abbey-style dubbel) stands alone.  Sadly, they don't bottle yet.  They expect to start in the next few years according to the bartender.

After a particularly long work day and too many hotel meals, I decided to take myself out to dinner.  Having little energy and limited Baltimore navigational skills, I decided to try one of the nearby Italian restaurants.  I settled into a sunny table at Aldo's and ordered a Pinot Noir and an Arugula Salad with shaved Parmigiano Reggiano and an aged balsamic vinaigrette.

The salad was perfect.  It was simple and full flavored with a hearty crack of black pepper. 

My waiter, Jim, seemed to take a liking to me and was intrigued as to why I might be photographing my food.  I explained my hobby and Jim turned up the charm, starting with a complimentary Four Cheese Risotto.  The risotto was rich and creamy, with a nice subtle sharpness to the cheese.

My main course arrived with a complimentary glass of wine that Jim thought would be perfect with the fresh Porcini Agnollotti and Shitake Mushrooms tossed in Italian-Norcian Black Truffle Butter.  It was.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the meal was an aperitif of Limoncello Cream made by chef Aldo Vitale himself.  A combination of Meyer lemons, grain alcohol, sugar, cream and water create a silky, sweet and sour beverage that was a great end to a great meal.

The sun was just setting when I arrived back at the hotel.  I caught the water taxi at the hotel pier and rode around the harbor.  I switched boats and took the route towards Fell's Point.  From what I had gathered, this area of Baltimore was a newly gentrified district on the water with a number of bars and restaurants.  Upon docking I saw this was in fact true.  The historic buildings were gorgeous, yet marred by neon lights. The area was crawling with polo-shirts, sun-dresses, burnt-skin and bad shoes. 

I made my way to Max's Tap House.  This bar boasts 70 taps, more than 300 bottles and accolades from Beer Advocate.  It was super crowded, loud, brightly lit and had snotty service with a somewhat creepy clientele.  Not really my kind of place.  I was determined to try another good beer in Baltimore, however, and decided I should give the Clipper City Heavy Seas Loose Cannon a try.  This was a very nice ale with a formidable hop level, including my favorite Amarillo hops. 

I left Max's as soon as my beer was done and decided to wander around Fell's Point to enjoy the architecture.  I came upon Pitango Gelato, a smart looking gelateria with a bustling crowd.

This was a truly lucky stop to stumble upon.  Pitango's uses grass-fed organic milk and high end organic ingredients to create gelato that rivals many that I have sampled in Italy. They eschew artificial ingredients, flavorings and extracts and use milk, cream and eggs from their own single-herd Pennsylvania farm. They also serve frozen yogurt and sorbet.

I ordered the spicy chocolate and, of course, pistachio.  This was one of the finest pistachio gelatos I have tasted.  Pitango flies in Bronte pistachios from Sicily, which are grown at the base of the active volcano, Mount Etna.  Needless to say I highly recommend Pitango gelato if you live near Baltimore.  For everyone else I simply highly recommend pistachio gelato.

I was initially somewhat annoyed that I had to travel to Baltimore for work. I used to think that I would enjoy business travel, but it can be quite lonely.  Luckily, I think I have a talent for truly enjoying loneliness, it just takes a few days to kick in. 

I had a nice visit and would certainly not be disappointed to return to Baltimore.  The only other time I was in Baltimore was when I was about 6.  My cousin Matt who I mentioned earlier in this post used to live there.  He taught me how to tie a double not that week as we spent hours in his tree house.  Our dads took us to an Orioles game at the old stadium.  I think it was the fourth of July.  The fireworks went awry and started shooting into the crowds, directly at us.  I watched a woman two rows ahead of us have her hair go up in flames.  Our dads hoisted us under their arms and we ran out of the ballpark.  I think it is safe to say that this most recent trip was better.

The flight home went as planned.  I returned to find these beautiful flowers from Nick (anthurium and orchids).  He bought them at Fleur in Logan Square. Fleur is a sweet little shop with an excellent selection of exotic flowers and letterpress cards.  It was good to be home.

Kuma's Corner

Last night Eileen, Nick and I went to Kuma's Corner for dinner.  I just returned from a business trip to Baltimore (more on that in a future post) and Eileen is departing for a 20 day trip to Ireland, Spain and Morocco this evening.  After the insane storms in the afternoon that left many of the streets flooded, knocked trees onto unsuspecting parked cars near my house and flooded and closed Eileen's school, the subsequent calm and balmy evening provided perfect weather for Kuma's patio.  They gave us a lot of "if you sit out there, it is at your own risk" talk when we sat down, but by the time we left the patio was completely full.

The server informed us that the taps were super warm and not recommended that evening.  Turning instead to the bottle menu, we attempted to order about six beers that they were out of.  Fairly annoyed, Nick ordered a Coke and I wound up with a decent, but certainly not new or exciting Great Lakes Elliot Ness amber lager.  It seems like bars and liquor stores are consistently out of what we want lately.  But the real reason for this trip was the incredible food at Kuma's Corner.  Famished, we got to ordering.  Eileen ordered the "Iron Maiden" with chicken breast, avocado, cherry peppers, pepper jack, and chipotle mayo (I forgot to photograph hers). I ordered the "Neurosis" with a veggie burger, cheddar, swiss, sauteed mushrooms, caramelized onions and horseradish mayo. 

Nick ordered their stunning flagship burger, the "Kuma Burger."  A half pound black angus burger with bacon, cheddar and a fried egg on top.  A truly beautiful and impressive item.  As Nick pointed out, it's like putting the "whole barnyard" in your stomach. All of their burgers are served on delicious pretzel buns that are made by Labriola Baking Company in Chicago.  Sadly, Labriola only provides their artisan breads to restaurants and hotels at the moment.  Though, there seems to be talk of an eventual retail space.

As you can most likely gather from the assortment we ordered, the burgers can be made with traditional beef, chicken breast, chicken fingers or a veggie burger.  They run between $10 - $12 and come with homemade chips or fries.  Their ketchup is noteworthy as they add some subtle spiciness to it.  Aside from the lack of a beer selection on this visit, Kuma's has consistently impressed me with their food and beers.  I keep meaning to order their "Make your own mac and cheese," but with 16 different burgers to choose from I always seem to end up on that side of the menu.

Dark Lord Day at Three Floyds Brewery

Saturday morning Nick and I rose bright and early and took the red line to Garfield where Ben and Paul met us.  Coffee and delicious Medici baked goods in hand, we drove to the Three Floyds brewery in Munster, Indiana.  We arrived around 10:30 to find the parking lot full of some of the best beer nerds around enjoying some truly gorgeous weather.  Picnic tables were brimming with the best bottles from personal collections and we were offered small tasting glasses and friendly conversation.  Around noon the door to the brew house opened and a polite stampede pushed the crowd into a haphazard line.  This line set itself apart from most by virtue of pulling us past more tables of now fairly abandoned (and perhaps a bit warm) bottles of incredible beers.  The line moved slowly, but the conversation with excited strangers was quite entertaining.  Occasionally a patron would emerge from the brew house with an arm full of 22 ounce bottles and a huge grin.

Once inside the brew house we bought pints of GumballHead to get us through the last leg.  There was a 6-bottle limit per person on Dark Lord, but there were other offerings available for sale as well.  We took off fairly quickly after purchasing our beer (the line took about 2 hours) and we were astonished to still see the line circling through the parking lot and down the street.  We estimated that there must have been about 2,000 people that came out for the event.

 

That evening Nick and I opened one of the bottles.  Neither of us had tasted the Dark Lord before and we were in for a treat.  This Russian Imperial Stout pours out thick and opaque, like motor oil.  It is extremely dark and has flavors that keep rolling for several seconds after the most flavorful beers I have tried. The head was gorgeous, small, creamy and dark espresso colored and it smelled like honey and sweet malt.  The beginning tasted like cherries, plums and chocolate.  The middle was big and sweet like jam, raisins and rum, and the end was long and tasted of espresso and chocolate (Note: they use Intelligensia coffee in the brewing process).

I have never tasted a beer so complex.  This is truly a treat.  There is no alcohol content on the bottle, but judging by how chatty Nick and I were after splitting one, I think it is safe to assume it is up there.

Oh my. I wish I had $90 to blow on six bottles.  I only ended up with three and I owe Paul money for one of those.    Hopefully you were there to get your own.  They only brew these beauties once a year.  There was rumor that the Small Bar on Division was going to get a keg, and since I noticed the bartender was there I imagine this is true.  If you have a friend that lets you try some of her stash, know she loves you.  This is special stuff.

(*I didn't have my camera on me when we opened the first bottle.  I will be sure to post a follow-up picture of the beer in a glass when we open the next one.)

Dinner Party: Andean Potato Stew

Last weekend Nick and I met our friends Ben and Ruchama at the Garfield Conservatory for their annual Chocolate Fest.  We did not succeed in sampling any of the chocolate due to the huge crowds, but we were able to warm up in the dewy, climate-controlled gardens for a bit.  The conservatory is a gorgeous and easily accessible resource for Chicagoans -- the Green Line will take you nearly to the entrance.  Few places can compare in their ability to genuinely rid your body of the pervasive chill that accompanies the winter months here.  I've had fun at the Chocolate Fest in the past, but arriving when the doors open in the morning seems like the only way to  successfully consume any chocolate.

We traveled to Ben and Ruchama's house in Hyde Park and proceeded to make a fabulous dinner.

Ben and Ruchama made a beet, orange and watercress salad that was based on a similar salad that Ruchama recently ordered at the Hop Leaf.  I love watercress, but rarely buy it.  I thought this salad was superb.

They also made a tasty appetizer of grilled artichoke heart bottoms with snow peas and asparagus dressed in parsley infused olive oil.  The artichoke was soaked in lemon juice before being grilled, which gave it a light flavor that complimented the dressing well.

Earlier that morning Nick and I had ventured to Oak Park to visit Penzeys spice store.  They have a few locations scattered across the United States -- but you can also sign up for their mail-order catalog on their website.  (The catalog is peppered with recipes to try.) If you have the luxury of living in close proximity to a Penzeys, I guarantee that once you visit you will never buy spices anywhere else -- or at the very least, not from a grocery store.  Their top-quality spices range from familiar standards to exotic flavors and they are always inexpensively priced.  We went in search of annato seeds for our soup and came away with a bit more than that.

In the most recent issue of Gourmet magazine, Nick and I were both quite taken with their recipe for Andean potato stew and decided to try our hand at it.  We began by heating the annato seeds in oil to make the achiote.  The seeds are strained out, leaving a bright red, flavored oil.  We added potato, onion, water, cumin, salt, and pepper and let this simple soup simmer for about an hour before adding whole milk and queso fresco.  We served the soup over avocado slices and enjoyed it with a bottle of New Glarus Raspberry Tart lambic that I had picked up in Wisconsin the weekend before.

The texture of the rich avocado provided a great contrast to the hearty potato stew.  I thought the stew was a success and the leftovers made a nice lunch the next week.  I might add more achiote if I were to make this soup again so that the flavor is more pronounced. 

We sat and talked over wine and cheese long after dinner was over and left sleepy and sated.  It was a lovely night.

Formerly Known as the Berghoff Bar. . .

Tuesday night I had the luck to be invited by my friend Paul to the private grand re-opening party of the Berghoff Bar, or as it is now to be called -- 17/West.  Name changes aside, my worries were assuaged to a large degree when we walked in.  The west wall has been taken out and café style seating installed.  The lunch counter is still just ahead of this area and otherwise things are fairly intact.  The expansion feels a bit strange, but it does make the business feel airy and bright (oh, they also put in big windows, or rather, took the dimming shading and foliage off the old).

That glorious wooden bar is still as beautiful as ever.  The old brass Berghoff taps are gone and have been replaced by tacky plastic and the liquor behind the bar has been removed and replaced with white table cloths and empty clear glasses.  This last feature made the place feel a bit like an office party in an unfinished board room, but I'll live.

A nice woman named Nancy who is helping to run things took us for a small tour of the premises.  Above you can see the old back dining room which is currently set up for a catering event.  In case you haven't heard, Carlyn Berghoff has started a catering business out of the old site.  (Paul's sister is getting married in a week and they have the rehersal dinner planned for this location, I will report back on his comments.)

Just off the main dining room is their new 'tasting room' for more intimate gatherings.  It is a nice idea, but I would curious to see if they use both spaces simultaneously, that could become bothersome.

(My apologies for the poor picture quality.)

The bar area has a new menu of German fare, tapas, and desserts.  Many of the items from the German menu sounded similar to their old offerings so Paul and I had to try our favorites.  Paul was happy to report that the sauerbraten tastes as good as ever.  I ordered the new version of their mushroom strudel. It was tasty, but made me yearn for the old days.  The phyllo dough is somewhat dry tasting and stuffed with goat cheese, not mushrooms.  The mushrooms come in the form of a puddle on the side that you supposedly dip the cheese stick in.  Not what I am looking for. Oh well.  We gave Nancy our input and hopefully we will see some of it put to use.

In any event, it was great to be back in there and to see that the old wood bar I love hasn't become full of chrome and leather.  The staff is completely different, but the regulars were all back and seemed pretty content. I will definitely be re-frequenting the Berghoff. . ahem. .  I mean 17/West when it reopens to the public soon.

Anheuser-Busch Brewery

I traveled to St. Louis, Missouri with my mother recently to attend a family wedding.  We were lucky to have beautiful weather and ten of us decided to spend part of our Sunday at the Budweiser brewery.  I can't claim to be a fan of any Anheuser-Busch product, except perhaps King Cobra, though it was interesting to visit such a large scale brewery. 

I have visited several smaller scale breweries and either helped or been in the vicinity of many home-brewing adventures.  This tour, however, was on a completely different scale.  Groups of 40-60 people left with a pair of guides every 10 minutes to follow a well-worn path of quaint stables, plexi-glass shielded mashers, control rooms, and no-photo zones. 

At the beginning of the tour we were treated to some pretty spectacular views of the factory pipe-work.  Here you can see beer being pumped through the sky in giant tubes.  (It seems more likely that they actually hold water or mash at this point, but the guides said it was beer.)

The round stables are still intact and filled with Clydesdales and their lovely little boots.  We even had the chance to see a very young Clydesdale colt. The horses were used for transportation before motor-vehicles and their image originally symbolized the speedy and reliable delivery of fresh Budweiser beer at a time when few other breweries could make such a claim.

These pretty hop vine chandeliers which now grace the vaulted ceilings of the brew-house debuted at one of the World's Fairs in the early part of last century.

After the walking portion of the tour we were taken a few hundred meters by bus to the sampling room.  We were invited to try up to 2 beverages while snacking on pretzels in a garish, color-blocked room.  The bar had the expected offerings as well as a decent seasonal witte beer and a new product not-yet on the market called Spikes.  These little 4 ounce bottles come in four flavors; mango, lime, another fruit that I cannot recall, and chocolate.  The Spikes contain 12% ABV and are intended to be added to beers.  My mother was thrilled, as she is not a very big beer fan. I on the other hand found that they actually made the already dubious quality of the beers worse.  It is an interesting idea however.

The tour and subsequent bar stop before noon was a lovely way to spend some quality time with a portion of my extended family that I haven't seen in years.  The tour was free and I would recommend it if you are ever in St. Louis and looking for something to do.

South Side St. Patrick's Parade

Last weekend we went down to the South Side Irish Parade.  Beginning at 101st and Western, this is the parade to be at in Chicago.  I can't say I have necessarily watched the parade in years, but the general mayhem of Beverly and the surrounding area is always a great way to spend a Sunday.

John has been a member of a south side home-brewing club for a few years now.  Each year we are invited to a small gathering of home-brewers to celebrate the day.  The members bring various home-brewed beers, wines, meads, and spirits to be consumed whilst eating an array of delicious food.

 
In addition, during the festivities the club brews gallons upon gallons of a beer for the party the following year, generally some kind of complex stout aged in bourbon barrels. (You can see a bit of their set up for brewing on the right side of the photo above.)

Here malt is being incorporated into the process.

My parents made it out to meet us after an arduous hike up Western from my cousin Jason's house and enjoyed a drink or two with some of us later in the evening.  One of the last things we tasted was a lovely almond champagne with a perfect mellow sweetness.  Amazing.

I hope you all had a lovely St. Patrick's Day.  Cheers!

Goodbye Berghoff

It recently became apparent that Cindy of Food Migration and I had a bit in common. Namely, living in Chicago with our parents, unemployed, and newly returned from 6 months abroad. (And we both run food blogs of course.) Cindy emailed me and we made a plan to meet one another. I suggested that we get an early lunch at Fontanos and then head to the Berghoff Bar for some final drinks before it closed for "renovations." I wasn't sure how my new friend would take my suggestion to hit a bar before noon, but much to my delight she thought it was "the coolest idea ever." I had a feeling we would get along.

It was my first time at Fontanos. One of my old roommates is a big fan and I kept meaning to stop by. John and I got there early and the sweet woman who ran the shop made us a fresh pot of coffee for free and we watched them move in the goods for the day. Later on we even got to watch them move out two 8 foot long subs! Amazing.

The subs were very good. The bread in particular was excellent. Super soft sub breads (like those of Subway) taste wet and spongy, while still others might be so hard and crusty that they hurt my mouth. This bread, however, had the perfect texture and chewiness. All of the ingredients were high quality, fresh, and perfectly seasoned. I am a fan.

Though some people might not give a lot of pause to the Berghoff closure, it did make me sad. I had a surprise chance to be part of a dinner reservation last Saturday with my parents which was a lot of fun. The restaurant wasn't excellent, but I will sorely miss my standard meal of mushroom strudel and creamed spinach. In addition, the staff was wonderful during all of my experiences -- some of the finest waiters I have had the pleasure to meet, the Berghoff Cafe was a lovely little out of the way place where it was almost always easy to find a table on my lunch break, and the bar. . .

. . .Oh the bar. I am one of those people that loves to read in bars alone. The Berghoff Bar was the place for my enjoyment of this past time. An engrossing book and reasonably priced quality beer was one of my favorite ways to spend my hour after work and before beginning the often long commute home. I have met some of the friendliest folks sitting at that bar, and not one of them asked for my number. For a girl who likes to sit alone in bars, the interest in my literary choices as opposed to whether or not I was single was a welcome change. I know the bar will re-open, but I'm not planning to count my eggs before they hatch. I am openly mourning the end of the only charming and laid-back bar in the loop.

Yesterday, the last day, Cindy, her boyfriend Randy, John, our friend Dan, and I spent the hours between 11:45am and 2:45pm with a crowd of half patrons to half journalists. The bartenders were calm and cool as ever and the pure joy of the employed who had cut work to spend a few hours getting boozed up felt frenetic.

I truly hope the Berghoff Bar retains its character and once the hoopla boils down, I hope things become as lovely as they once were. We shall see.

It was wonderful to meet Cindy and Randy. I hope we can share a few more unemployed afternoons together.

Munich, Germany

I spent the last few months traveling from London to Beijing. Here is a taste of one place we spent time. Follow the links to read about others.

September 30th- October 4th, 2005

We are in Varaždin, Croatia right now staying in a gorgeous apartment with a jacuzzi and wireless for one night. We spent the last few days in Zagreb and we are heading to Hungary tomorrow. Over a month ago now, we spent a few days in Munich, Germany with our friend Gretchen after visiting Gent, Belgium. We know her daughter Meg quite well and subsequently Gretchen sees many of our other friends from time to time.

Gretchen hand-delivered a birthday card to me that a number of my friends in Chicago made (as well as a pretzel that had been purchased in Munich). It was so nice to read small personal notes from people that I miss quite a bit. It made my birthday. We enjoyed the pretzel with the mustard that we received in Gent, Belgium.

That evening Gretchen took us out to the Augustiner Keller near Marienplatz where John and I drank liters of beer and I had some delicious seasonal mushroom cream soup.

Unbeknownst to us, we ended up in Munich during Oktoberfest. John and I decided that we were somewhat obligated to pay the festivities a visit, though in the end it was a superb waste of time. Oh well, now we know.

I really enjoyed Munich. If you visit I highly suggest the free English-language tour (they also provide the same service in Berlin). I miss the pretzels.

Next stop, Paris.