Movie stars [cross post]

Head on over to FeedMeFeedMe (SY's blog) and check out her post entitled "When Hard work pays off". I don't want to give anything away but it has something to do with being movie extras...

Happy Birthday Kean

From the mid-west, Happy Birthday Kean!

The weather & lifestyle is great in sunny California and thanks again for letting SY & I crash at your pad in SD. We gotta party again in LA!

Happy Birthday Sam

Where ever you are (I think Dublin) - Happy Birthday Sam !!

May this next year of your life bring an abundance of adventure & prosperity!

Top drop

As many of you know, in addition to eating, I enjoy a good drink. Wine, tea, coffee, beer, juice - whatever - it's all good. So this post is to let y'all know of a new type of beer that I've just gotten into. Weiss (wheat) beer.

Weiss beer goes back a long way. According to this website, it goes all the way back to 2000BC. Perhaps this style of beer is best described by beeradvocates.com:

"Berliner Weisse is a top-fermented, bottle conditioned wheat beer made with both traditional warm-fermenting yeasts and lactobacillus culture. They have a rapidly vanishing head and a clear, pale golden straw-coloured appearance. The taste is refreshing, tart, sour and acidic, with a lemony-citric fruit sharpness and almost no hop bitterness."

The first weiss beer that I tried was Hacker Psch. A top drop.

It also has a unique pouring style. You pour it the usual way into a glass that's tilted to the side to minimise the head. Then after you've emptied the bottle you should give it a bit of a shake and pour the head onto the beer. Hmm that description sounds a little bit dodgy - it probably best explained by these pics.

Go out and give it a shot. It's good stuff.

Happy (Belated) Birthday Kev!!

Happy 27th Kev!! Sorry I'm a week late - I blame my palm pilot.

Best wishes to you and your family from across the pacifc!

Smokey Joe lives on

Well isn't it funny how when you think you've seen the last of someone that you get reunited with them again. Smokey Joe (Silver) is one such friend. In 2002 I bid farewell to SJ and left her in the capable hands of Pete. In 2005 I was reunited with her. Albeit she had been neglected by Pete - she was left in the closet never to be fired up. But that's all changed now that I'm back in Chicagoland. SJ and I fed the four of us on Friday night. Bacon wrapped swordfish, Fenwick's red curry fusion chicken skewers, Pete's greek pork chops & Proscuitto and Asparagus salad was on the menu. Top notch stuff. Can't go wrong with Aussies on the BBQ (only Weber of course!).

Fenwick's Red curry fusion chicken skewers

Smokey Joe & Pete

Feed me feed me ;)

Smokey Joe back in 2002 (& Pete)

Ninjai

In short Ninjai is (to quote their FAQ):

Ninjai, The Little Ninja is our online action/adventure series. We invite you to join Ninjai on his exciting, enlightening and sometimes humorous journey as he travels throughout the Ancient World.

Check Ninjai out here

Die Earwigs!

Ok so I don't have anything interesting to post but I just got bitten by an earwig. I've killed numerous earwigs in my life - I guess they got one back tonight.

Feed Me Feed Me

What an appropriate name for SY's blog. She's just started one up - check it out at http://feedmefeedme.blogspot.com.

The Rest

I went to these places. Not good enough to make my other lists. Maybe you'll like them better than me. Listed in chronological order of dining experiences.

Pita House - Gyros/Yiros in the US is just wrong.

Recommended

You should check these places out. Listed in chronological order of dining experiences.

Chevy's - Reliable tex mex. I know it's not authentic but it's tasty.
Irie Cafe - Jamacan home cooking. Good value.
Speakeasy - Good music, great decor & good quality food.
Shui Wah - Good dim sum here
Panang - Get your M'sian favourites in Chinatown
Pho Bar - Get your Vietnamese pho fix in Glendale Heights
The Melting Pot - Fondue fun.
Wonton Gourmet - Great HK wonton noodles
Jockey's Wok'n'Roll - Decent dim sum & Chinese out in the 'burbs.
The Black Ram - Quality Steaks
Hong Kong Cafe - Good stuff here if you know what to order
La Tasca - Steer clear of the paellas. Tapas aren't bad.

Highly Recommended

You gotta check these places out. Listed in chronological order of dining experiences.

Mia Cucina - Italian and Jazz in the 'burbs.
Giacomo's Ristorante - Great homestyle Italian.
Thai Sookdee - Simple, authentic Thai; exactly how I had in Thailand
Enotecca Piattini - Great Italian food, perfect portion sizes and out of this world wine menu
Arco de Cuchilleros - Best tapas in town

The lists

In order to better manage and track my fav places to eat in Chicagoland I'll be creating 3 new sticky posts - the Highly Recommended, Recommended & The Rest. I think the names speak for themselves. You'll be able to access each of this lists from the links on the right hand side. So if you're ever looking for a place to eat in Chicagoland check 'em out.

[Review] The Melting Pot

Hmm seems like a haven't written a restaurant review for a while. I've still been eating out a lot but haven't really found (or made) time to update my blog that much let alone write a review. To maintain my faithful few, this must change.

On Friday I went to The Melting Pot for dinner. The name of the game here is fondue. You can have 3 courses of fondue here - cheese (appetizer), broth (entree) & chocolate (dessert). There were 5 of us so we went with 2 x Dinners for 2. That meant 2 x cheese & 2 x broth fondues. There was plenty of food to go around. The appetizers consisted of a pot of jalepeno cheddar & another of swiss cheese. These pots were paired with apples, bread, corn chips and veg. Tasty stuff. For mains our broth pots - Coq a Vin (mushrooms, garlic & burgundy wine) & Court Bouillon (veg stock) was paired with the signature selection and pacific rim. A nice selection of meats indeed.

The whole dining process is very social. I wouldn't recommend coming here if you can't hold a decent conversation with your guests. It took us over 2hrs to finish everything. However it was a fun experience. There is something about cooking your own food at restaurants that I find interesting. Just like Korean BBQ, you are responsible for how your food turns out. Over/undercooked - it's your fault. Anyway back to the fondue. I'd have to add this place to my recommended places. Good fun and good food. It's a tad on the pricey side but it's more than just your average dining experience. Recommended.

My car - Helga

Here's a pic of Helga. Helga's a workhorse. Nothing fancy about her. I hope she's reliable.

Helga is a VW '03 Jetta GLS. Manual transmission 2.oL. I found her stranded amongst other used vehicles, mainly Nissans, at Mid City Nissan. So far she's been a pleasure to drive.

Meatapalooza

This independance day long weekend has been a meat fest. It all started off on Friday where we took advantage of the summer hours and went to lunch at Sal & Carvao. This Brazilian style restaurant has about 16 cuts of meat that you can try. And it's all you can eat :). They also tout their salad bar which was pretty impressive but I only really went there to get my plate for the meat :)

Saturday was a rest day.

Sunday was ribfest. Over a dozen of the USA's finest ribbest brought it to Naperville. We managed to sample the fares from Johnsons, Aussom Aussie, Rasta Joes, Texas outlaws & Cowboys BBQ. My pick of the day was Johnsons for their smokey taste.

Independance day hasn't got off to a good start. After a great weekend of meat and sunshine I woke up to the emergency warning system on cable tv. A 1hr freak storm passed through Cook Illinois just after lunch. Let's hope tonight's fireworks aren't washed out.

The Official Shotgun Rules

Just to give you a bit of background. My mate Li just got a new Nissan Pathfinder. Fully optioned minus the nav system. It's an awesome roadtrip car. So Li's giving 6 of us a ride to watch War of the worlds. What a shite movie that was. I digress.

Here's what this post is all about: official rules for calling shotgun. I'm posting it here for reference so that people know the rules and can adhere to them :)