July Randoms

It's been a long month and it's coming to an end. We've been having an insane amount of delays, so I've been staying at work late into the night, once as late at 2 AM. Since I never miss an opportunity to sleep in, my culinary imagination has been limited to sandwiches and hot dogs. Here's a few pictures to fill in the blanks of the past month.

Fresh kale and cherry tomato from the garden

Inch worm buddy

Chilla lunch time

Quinoa-stuffed peppers

Vanilla ice cream, chocolate chips, cherries and mint leaves

Frozen lemonade cocktail from Sun Singer Wines

Look at those giant plants

Basil lemonade

Backyard tanning

Puppy pool

Melon, corn, avocado, mixed green salad

Hard apple cider

Trying out Dublin O'Neil's: Pint of Guinness, Irish poutine, shepard's pie and bread pudding

Steak pita pocket, grilled corn and salmon salad

Boyfriend's new shirt from the Naperville Ale Fest

Blossoming sunflower

Wine and ice cream, it was a long day at work

Guacamole dog

Home grown jalapeno gigante

Plum tart and coffee to go from Mirabelle's bakery

Blueberry lemon pancakes

Not even the outdoors and keep us from our technology!

July was a weird month for weather, but I'm not complaining. I'll take 60 degree nights over 90 degree nights any day of the week. August is right around the corner and that means one thing... FOOTBALL! Boyfriend and I may be heading up north for Bear training camp and our league draft is toward the end of August. Boyfriend is so excited, he starts squeaking and on the verge of shaking whenever I mention football. Such a manly man.

-Akemi-chan

Grilled Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Peanut Sauce

A friend recently came back from a work trip to Portland. Needless to say, I was a little jealous. Portland has become a big up and coming food hub for the young and ambitious and a big advocate of the Farm-to-Table food trend. He came back with amazing stories of innovative foods from honey, balsamic, black pepper ice cream with strawberry swirl to my newest inspiration Thai PB&J.

I was shocked and elated. Thai PB&J was introduced to our friend by a local restaurant in Portland. After doing some research, I found the masterminds behind this creation. PBJ's Grilled, took inspiration from the childhood classic and pad thai, mixing natural peanut butter, sriracha, fresh basil, curry powder and orange marmalade. Immediately, my mind went to the lettuce wrap with chicken. From that point I was gone. Here's what happened in my kitchen the next day.

Grilled Chicken Lettuce Wraps with Peanut Sauce

1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp peanut butter
juice of 1 lime
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp curry powder

2-3 cups of grilled chicken
salt and pepper
Head of Boston lettuce

1/4 cup of chopped peanuts
4 tbsp orange marmalade
6 basil leaves, chiffonade
chopped peanuts (optional)
sliced cherry tomatoes (optional)
thinly sliced jalapeno (optional)
white rice (optional)

For peanut sauce, combine ginger, garlic, peanut butter, lime juice, soy sauce and curry powder in a small bowl. To assemble lettuce wraps, start with one leaf of lettuce and any choice of toppings.

Chicken, chopped peanuts, lettuce cups, toppings, marmalade, peanut sauce, rice (in pot)

Sauces, toppings, lettuce and rice

Build your own lettuce wraps

NOM

This new combination of orange marmalade, peanut butter, and curry powder is my newest obsession. I didn't even know how well these two things complement each other. The spicy, savory, sweet and salty all together is amazing. I'll be making the Thai inspired PBJs for years to come.

-Akemi-chan

Summer Lasagna with Zucchini and Grape Tomatoes

I had heard of this Martha Stewart recipe many years ago and thought it was so beautiful. I'm not the biggest fan of lasagna because it normally leaves me feeling heavy and unnecessarily full. The beauty of this recipe is that it avoids the oven and is lightened up for Summer.

Summer Lasagna with Zucchini and Grape Tomatoes

3-4 lasagna noodles 
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
3 tbsp plus 2 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
1 zucchini, sliced into thin circles
4-6 basil leaves, chiffonade

Place lasagna sheets in salted boiling water. Boil until cooked, then remove from water and cut into rectangles, across the pasta. Meanwhile, combine ricotta, Parmesan and olive oil in a small bowl. Add salt and pepper as desired.

In a large pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add halved grape tomatoes and chopped garlic. Salt and pepper to taste. Cook until tomatoes give off a little sauce, about 5 minutes. Pour into a bowl until assembly.

In the same pan, add the remaining olive oil and sliced zucchini. Cook until zucchini becomes tender, about 5 minutes.

When everything is finished cooking, layer ingredients starting with tomatoes, zucchini, cheese, basil, pasta, cheese. Repeat two to three more times. Top with basil and pour remaining tomato sauce over layers. Enjoy.

-Akemi-chan

Exploring Naperville with Lil Bro

My brother has been traveling a lot thanks to his job, so when he said he was in Chicago for business, I took a day off work for some sibling quality time. Since he was staying in the suburbs, we drove up from Champaign to Oak Brook and picked him up for an afternoon of fun. 

On the agenda was Naperville, a town Boyfriend is familiar with thanks to his occasional work trips to the Fermi National Lab. Lucky for us, this suburb of Chicago is full of little restaurants and shops and the main event, the Naperville Ale Fest, but more on that later. First, lunch.

First, we stopped by Green Basil Vietnamese restaurant. Brother has had his fill of "mainland food," and was craving something Asian. Sad to say, but the Midwestern suburbs are kinda lacking in the Asian food market, and he was suffering from too-much-potatoes-syndrome. 

It was a little amusing eating Asian food in the mainland with my brother. All the little things on the menu like "daicon" radishes and "sandwiches" label instead of banh-mi made us chuckle. Boyfriend ordered the pork "sandwich" and Brother got some pho, while I stuck with the shredded chicken "sandwich." Ha ha. 

Chicken "Sandwich"

Next stop, the Ale Fest. Just a few blocks down from Downtown Naperville, is the Naperville Settlement and the location of the First Annual Naperville Ale Fest. Considering that this was the first time this event was held, I was amazed by the turn out. It was a beautiful Summer day with blue skies and sunshine and the crowds reveled in the idea of drinking outside in the Summer heat. 

The Ale Fest had more than 80 different breweries from Vermont to California (even Hawaii) serving multiple brews from white tents on a grass lawn. We were surrounded by people with pretzel necklaces, listening to a live band and sipping out of their souvenir event glasses. We spent the afternoon walking around the grounds and drinking half (and sometimes full) pints of beer and sitting in the shade talking about life goals and football.  It was the first time the three of us attended anything like this and we were soaking all of it in. 

Punch card for samples

Souvenir cup

Live entertainment

Taking a break from the sun

We're no strangers to sitting on the ground

WHAAT?! Longboard in Naperville? Haha

Tank: Old Navy

Skirt: Forever 21

Sandals: Two Lips

Purse: Steve Madden

After the Ale Fest closed, we were ready for some food to soak up the alcohol. Leaving the Ale Fest was quite hilarious. Seeing the crowds departing, we saw people in their 70's walking home for dinner and young 20-somethings laying in the grass taking their post-beer-guzzling siesta. This truly was a new experience for me.

Walking around Downtown Naperville, there were a lot of options for dinner, but I normally like to eat places that I've never had before. Let's avoid the chains and dive straight into the most interesting food we can find. After a quick internet search I chose Tango Argentinean Grill. We're no strangers to meat, but it sure beats eating at Subway or Burger King.

Elderflower liqueur, Champagne and soda

Steamed muscles with garlic white wine sauce

Muscles glasses - Epic Meal Time Reference

Assorted grilled meats: Steak, chicken, sausage, blood sausage, entrails and veggies

After dinner, we were stuffed. I don't know if the plate of meat is accuratley depicted, but it was supposed to feed two. Between the three of us, we couldn't finish it. It seemed like the best solution was to go on a little drive to Aurora to the Chicago Premium Outlet Mall to walk off dinner and exercise our shopping muscles, something that my brother and I are pretty good at.

We dropped Brother off at his hotel just as the sky was turning dark. It could've been the impending storm, or the fact that the sun sets around 9 PM, but the skies were turning black and it was time to head back home. We bid Brother adieu and drove back to Champaign to our comfortable bed.

I'm glad we got to spend the day with Brother during his time in the Midwest. I'm proud of him that he's found a career path where he can experience so much while he's still young and enthusiastic. I'm even happier that we can bond as adults and get to know each other on another level.

Any time my family is doing something and willing to see me and make time for me, I will gladly drop as much as I can to spend time with them. Sometimes it's sad that I live so far away from the people that I love, but it's moments like these that make me feel like time and space don't matter. As long as I get to laugh and create great memories with them, then proximity is a trivial factor. It's the love and respect that I have for them that will never fade.

-Akemi-chan