tomato lady strikes again

omg i got six tomatoes out of this raid!

so i decided to stuff them!

i wish i had other ingredients to actually stuff them with something...

but i didn't so i just stuffed them with the end of the risotto i had made earlier

(i was kind of completely sick of eating it on its own)

OH BUT I NEEDED BREADCRUMBS

(why hello old bagel)

toasted it, food processed it with herbs & parm

ALL STUFFED

so damn cute

way good. she better keep bring me tomatoes for real

then i decided to roast some in the oven.

what i wanted to do was get them sort of like sun-dried tomatoes

but i didn't use a recipe and therefore didn't know to 'dehydrate' slightly

by salting them and the patting them dry... so it was a little more like seasoned (salt, pepper, 21-seasoning salute, & then parm at the end), stewed tomatoes.

BUT WHATEVER THEY WERE COMPLETELY AWESOME.

i thinly sliced & toasted the rest of that sad bagel & made my own bagel chips, shwing.

brown sugar shortbread star cookies

butter, flour, brown sugar, (i was supposed to use cinnamon, but i didn't have any...) some allspice, some ground ginger.

combined and then chilled for an hour

delirium tremens rolling pin (again)

(we all knew this but, i am a much better cook than a baker)

cute little star cookie cutters. i burnt like a quarter of them.

they are cute!!!!

hand-made pasta

a cup of flour with a pinch of salt & a whisked egg

combined

i don't have a rolling pin

all spread out

i free-formed it and didn't really know what i was doing

it was kind of thick and just like, you know too much.

next time i will make it thinner and shorter.

i used sixteen of these little babies! they added heat but weren't overwhelming!

minced shallots, garlic, the peppers, olive oil, a splash of tomato juice, and a bit of lemon juice.

you know just free-formed all in a pot.

a bunch of parmesean & voila!!!

Chicago Gourmet 2011

the entrance to chicago gourmet!

this is my third consecutive year attending chicago gourmet

the first year i didn't pace myself at all, i got so wasted i came out to my mother...yeesh

the stella artois booth! they give out full size stella, hoegarten, & leffe pint glasses

Ardbeg, the Ultimate Single Islay Malt Scotch Whisky. really peat-y.

South african liqueur, Amarula Cream is made from the exotic Marula fruit. it was actually disgusting tasting. but apparently elephants eat the fermented fruits and get drunk. i <3 elephants especially drunk ones

the absolut tent. this bartender was like 6'6".

Elijah Craig Bourbon

jimmy bannos, jr. head chef of the 'purple pig' in chicago. one of my favorite restaurants.

chef dirk flanigan. head chef of The Gage & Henri. the gage is like the ultimate gastro-pub and Henri is a super fancy french restaurant. two more of my favorite restaurants.

on the left is chef tony priolo. head chef of 'Piccolo Sogno'. awesome italian food!

michelle woods & i near the end of the festival. wowwy-zowwy.

however, i missed ted allen, andrew knowlton, and a few of celebrities. i need to get better about not just shoveling food & wine down my gullet.

SO MUCH FUN. can't wait for next year!

ornamental peppers

OMFG LOOK HOW CUTE THESE LITTLE BABIES ARE:

so i bought them at trader joe's.

they look really anemic & droopy but i don't know why

they are so damn cute. when i found out they were called 'ornamental peppers' i got really depressed because i figured that meant they were just for show. BUT I GOOGLED IT AND THEY ARE TOTALLY EDIBLE.

i have put them in bruschetta & the panzanella! huzzah!!!

panzanella!

tomato lady (as she shall now be called) gave me more tomatoes and i said I MUST HAVE PANZANELLA!!!

she didn't know what it was but whatever, it is like my favorite food (if it had more cheese)

the reason its amazing is because of the TOASTED BREAD CROUTONS

i had a cuke, three tomatoes, half a baguette, hot peppers (more on that later), and a cob of corn

then i made smashed garlic, olive oil, white balsamic, lemon juice vinaigrette

ADD SALT!!!

let it sit around for a while but not too long.

i actually made too much! but of course i ate it all at about hour three the bread gets to soggy to eat but i mean...whatever

bruschetta!

DAY TWO OF TOMATOES & BREAD

tomatoes, peppers, bread, the same vinaigrette

some parsley, some parmesean, salt

brushed the bread slices with the vinaigrette & toasted them

look how cute i served them up!!!

but of course i ate it like this:

um have y'all seen bridesmaids? when she spends all night making one cupcake.

I COMPLETELY FEEL LIKE THAT MAKING SINGLE SERVING DINNERS.

(but i secretly love it)

butternut squash risotto

so after i made a day's worth of bloody marys i decided it was time to go grocery shopping...

bad idea...

or at least, it resulted in intesting choices with varying levels of success.

got the squash cooked up and all perfect

god more daydrinking

i kinda of cheated because i bought a mushroom risotto box-set thing. i ended up over-salted the dish and i am going to blame it on the pre-measured spices (not my crunk'dability)

i think this stuff was around three dollars. it had a little sparkleness. i shall be comsuming it until it goes back to being whiskey time (like next week)

thats enough for now. i ended up having to leave work today at like 11 because i thought i was going to drop down dead at any moment. now after nyquilling all day and i am getting antsy about sleep and the state of my liver as all of the syzzurp & other meds. xoxo