Chipotle

This was one of the few weekends that I haven't eaten at Chipotle. This is definitely not authentic mexican but I think it's pretty good. It's also closer to the yiros back home - where they actually use real meat. Here they call em gyros and they used the same processed meat as the kind you find in your sandwiches - wrong.

Anyway I thought I'd plug this eatery since it's pretty decent and it's pretty much a weekly regular. I really got hooked on this stuff thanks to Arlington Heights store offering all Motorola staff a free burrito every Monday during March. Needless to say I was there every Monday getting my free feed :)

Another interesting fact about this company is that it is actually owned & started by McDonalds. Looks like the Big Mac of corporations is showing off it's flexibility in responding to Super Size Me. I wonder when it's going to make it's way to Australia? Hmm maybe I should buy the franchise rights...

Radio One

Seeing as I listen to it almost everyday I thought I better plug BBC's Radio One. You can listen live over the internet (this is how I do it) here. Everyone knows the UK music scene rocks and Radio One really delivers - Pete Tong, Annie Mac, Judge Jules, Annie Nightingale & Fergie just to name a few of their DJs.

Unfortunately can't say the same for US radio. As usual they go for quantity over quality. And quality doesn't mean variety either. On my round trip to and from work, it's not unsual to hear the same homie-g song at least 4 times. I got nothing against the likes of 50c, Alisha Keys and XZibit, it's the radio station programming. I'll stop my whinging now.

Motorola's Doubles Partner

I don't want to plug Motorola's products on this website but I do want to mention Motorola's latest celebrity. Looks like we've partnered up with Maria Sharapova. So check it out here at sharapova.motorola.com.

Congee

Dunno why I like congee so much - probably coz it's one of those foods you grow up with. The one below is pretty basic. Really wish I had some dried scallops then I could make the ones like my mum makes. Another item to add to my list to eat when I get back home at the end of the year.

Ingredients:

• Rice
• Water
• Fried dace w/ Blackbeans (from can)
• Spring onions.
  

Claypot rice wannabe

Unfortunatley I haven't had the chance to purchase a claypot yet but this was my attempt at doing it in a normal pot. Probably wouldn't have made much of a diff if I had used a claypot coz this was a botched job.

Ingredients:

• Chinese mushrooms
• Chicken
• Dark & light soy
• Oyster sauce

Didn't quite taste right...oh well. Bad thing was made quite a big batch so took me about 5 meals to finish this one :(

Thailand Pics

OK pics from SY & my holiday to Thailand can be found here. I'll get around the the captions soon, but in the mean time you can just make up the names of the places and people :)

Tandoori Chicken

Pataks Tandoori basting sauce and some Chicken thighs & Bob's your uncle you have tandoori chicken. However I wish I could find a better tandoori basting sauce. This new Pataks one isn't bad but just not quite the same. Forgot to buy lemons but still not quite the same as the ones you get in the Indian restaurants.

Siciliana Pasta

This is a pretty simple pasta - capsicum (bell peppers for you Americans) & eggplant are the main ingredients. Healthy & tasty. One way to make sure I eat my veg :).

This is going to sound strange but spent most of the weekend in. Not indoors but I didn't head downtown this weekend. Weather was great but I had so many little unfinished things to tidy up. Speaking about weather tomorrow is supposed to be 80degF - that's 27degC!! Bring on the shorts & sandals!

Stick Cricket

Cross-post (from daecks.blogspot.com). Just like PK, I too have been hooked by this online cricket game. Check it out at http://www.stickcricket.com/game.php

Farewell Adelaide Pics

I've just posted the pics from my farewell drinks at Fumo Blu. You will notice on the right hand side I've added a section "shutterfly albums" where you can access the online pics. There will be plenty more pics to come soon.

Chicago Deep Dish Pizza

The UK has fish'n'chips, Australia has the barbeque & HK has it's Wonton noodles - so what's Chicago's signature dish? Deep dish pizza of course. This is serious stuff. Serious for all the wrong reasons. It's more of a pizza pie. It's not your average pizza as you can see in the pics below. Lashings of cheese and only one or two toppings. Also the pizza is made upside down - ie. first they put the cheese on then they put the tomato paste (then sometimes a bit more cheese). Other toppings are optional. These are nothing like the gourmet pizzas from Good Life in Adelaide. Quantity is the name of the game here (well cheese at least).

One thing that really perplexes me is wtf do they provide parmasean cheese shakers? I mean is there not enough cheese on that pizza? I reckon even Selva would OD on the cheese here. Anyway back to the deepdish.

This piece of modern art comes from Vincino's. They are just around the corner from work and serve their it by the slice. One of the better deep dish pizza joints that I've been to. You get two of these badboys & a soda for $5. Needless to say I end up taking one slice back home. I can barely finish one slice. The cheese/oil really goes to the head.

Mabo Tofu

• Mince Pork
• Tofu
• Garlic
• Onions
• Mabo Sauce (packet stuff)
  
• Cooktime: 20mins
  

Tonight was another quick meal to prepare. It's one of my favourite tofu dishes. But tonight was the first time I'd cooked it. The sauce was supposed to be 'hot'. Rather disappointing on the heat factor. Also a little disappointing on the taste factor. I won't be buying this brand of sauce again. Then again I should really make the sauce from scratch. Also after cleaning up I realised that the sauce was made in Japan - another mistake.

For those of you wanting to try this at a Chinese restaurant it's sometimes called Grandma's Bean Curd. Strange name.

Prosciutto & Mozzarella on Crackers

What a great late night snack

• Prosciutto
• sliced mozzarella
• crackers
• pinch of black pepper
• Prep & Cooktime = 5mins

That sure hit the spot.

On Friday went to see Sin City. Interesting movie. I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it but you can tell that Quentin Tarantino had a part in it. Had dinner at "Fox & Hounds". Typical pub food although I was a bit put off by the people at my table shaking their heads each time I told them "I going to have..". So ended up having a steak burger. Pretty average but what do you expect for a pub*.

On Saturday Montoo had a BBQ at his place. He's got an awesome apartment just outside of downtown with views of the Chicago skyline. Loads of meat, wine & friendly people - great "Farewell to Mr. Winter" (not the person but the season).

The eating extravaganza didn't stop there. On Sunday I was doing my rounds of the grocery stores & around 1pm I was sooo hungry that I thought it'd be wise to go home and have lunch before continuing shopping. Grocery shopping on an empty stomach - danger. So I get a phone call from Yannis saying that Bridget is cooking some traditional Trinidanian breakfast - fry bake. This is good stuff. It's a fried flour puff/pancake & you put a cilantro/tomato/chilli chunky salsa on the top. Really good stuff. So simple yet so tasty. Good work Bridget.

I'll get some pics up soon. Once I find my memory card reader that is.

One other thing that seems to be going around this weekend is Skype. I gave it a shot with some of my friends in Adelaide and it seems pretty good. We were able to have a 3-person conf call. Better than MSN which restricts you to only one converstion to one person at a time. I think it's worth checking out.

* Should read - "American pub". The exceptions being the pubs in Adelaide. eg. Havvy, rising sun, the lion, oxford - all of these pubs have top notch food.

Roast Chicken Rolls

Roast chicken, mayo, tomato & lettuce focaccia. Can't beat it for a quick healthy meal. Sure beats the fast food here.

Well since 22 Feb I've found a place to live, bought a car and in the continual process of settling in. I also finally got cable internet & tv hooked up this week.

Just to give you a quick summary of the details (will write more details in other posts):

• I'm living in Schaumburg - pretty much opposite Motorola HQ. Unfortunately I don't work there - I work 20miles north in Libertyville (don't forget to checkout the satellite overlay). Schaumburg is considered the NW 'burbs (suburbs).
• I bought a 2003 VW Jetta. It's a nice car to drive but nothing really special. It's got 6 airbags - non of which I want to ever test. Some people suggested mustangs, others were keen on a viper. Sorry to disappoint.
  
• I'll have some pics up as soon as I find somewhere to store them online.

I hope to keep this blog updated weekly so please check back every so often.

Welcome - what's cooking?

Firstly welcome to my blogspot. What's "what's cooking" you ask? Well this blog is basically my way of keeping in touch with you all. Last time I used to send out stories/spam to you all. Since then 'blogging' has become more fashionable.

I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get this blog up and running. I know a few of you have sent me emails and I've tried my best to respond to you promptly. To the rest of you don't forget to stay in touch.

So what have I been up to since I landed in Chicago on 22 Feb? Well stay tuned...