We met in our first year design studio and have become close friends ever since. Kelley is still an architecture student and Lisa just graduated from industrial design. This blog began when we were roommates and although we live apart, we still carry on our "soul sister" ways. This is our collection of the yummy food we make and eat.
Now for the food. My mom suggested this year we cook turkey breasts instead of a full turkey and ever since I saw Rachel Ray do it on the Food Network do it, I’ve wanted to try. So it was turkey breast with cranberry, pistachio stuffing. For some reason we still don’t have a meat thermometer, every year we stare at the turkey and poke it to guess if it’s done and every year we never buy a thermometer. Hopefully we gain a few brain cells by next holiday season.
As for sides, cranberry sauce is my favorite and I always get too excited and make too much. When I saw Alton Brown (apparently food network has a great impact on me) make it from scratch, I was converted to a “from scratch only” cranberry sauce server. Next I think my second favorite of the feast was the balsamic glazed mini onions. I’m a tad partial to cooked onions and the balsamic glaze just took them over the top.
Moving on we have mashed sweet potatoes. For me, they are hundred times better than the normal white version, plus I’m not a fan of the whole marshmallow topping thing. I'm sorry but I believe they should just stick to smores (or my smore ice cream pie). The secret to these particular potatoes was rum and orange liquor (yes I managed to booze up the potatoes). The other stuffing that wasn’t actually stuffed anywhere was a sausage and apple cornbread stuffing. Again who can complain when there's sausage?
Here is Andrea’s plate of food, there’s the green beans who unfortunately do not have a photo solo. Up to this point all photos were taken by Andrea (I was a tad busy).
Dessert was pumpkin pie brought by my aunt and pecan pie that I made. OK so time for slight tangent: When I am on the elliptical at the gym, I read girly magazines and since the gym lacks a huge selection, I read practically every article. Every year during this season without fail, these magazines have an article on the “smart food choices for the holidays.” When it comes to dessert, pumpkin pie always wins since it has something like 300 calories whereas pecan pie has over 700 per slice. Do you think this stops me? Of course not but I really wish they would stop reminding me.
Finally after all this food, there’s still more, my version of hot white wine. I thought hot wine was only for red wine but I tried its sister for the first time this summer in Prague. Still just as warm and comforting but a lighter citrusy version. Of course I didn’t use a recipe and just threw spices, ginger, and fruit in the pot with white wine.
Well that was it, all the multiple course of food. Sorry that was such a long post, but Thanksgiving is probably the most food centered holiday out there. I will leave you with a lovely picture of the “kids.”
If it was up to me, we would eat only ham on thanksgiving. I know, I know I just upset the great Turkey gods, but I'm just not a fan. The only reason I make it every year is for the tradition and I feel my cousins may rise up against me if I make a turkey free spread. Anyways though this sandwich reminded me of Thanksgiving/ Christmas. It was ham with brie and raspberry jam (even better would've been my homemade cranberry sauce bu that'll have to wait a couple weeks). Did you notice the upgrade to real bread instead of english muffins or packaged sliced bread? I'm a grown up lady now.
What would you eat at the Bourgeois Pig? Well brunch of course. What does every brunch need? Waffles of course. I would argue coffee is a necessity too but Kelley had to go and get her chai so that kind of messes it up.
Anyways I had a waffle with nutella and bananas and Kelley’s had nutella too (because we are smart ladies) plus strawberries. My small latte ended up being a giant mug of warm coffee comfort so it was the perfect morning meal.
(First photo taken by Andrea and the other two by me)
This post is all about the posh Chicago lifestyle we all wish we had. You know the life where we go to bars on the 96th floor of buildings and sip on $12 martinis. For one night we were that fabulous (well until we went and devoured some deep dish pizza and we became part of the uncivilized masses again).
We heard that the top of Hancock tower had the best view of the city but it cost $35, on the other hand the lounge that was extremely close to the top was “free” except for the drinks. Although they were rather pricey it was worth it for a third of the price with the same view, better ambiance, and tasty drinks. I was in love with my drink, a zen martini. It was some magical mix of apple sake, something lemony, and ginger. Of course all of us ordered fancy drinks and luckily are close enough that we didn’t mind passing them around. Mine was my favorite except for maybe Andrea’s, which was some sort of sweet passion fruit with a hint of tart orange.
This was only the beginning of course; posh people go for drinks before dinner and the rest of the night’s festivities. A great start to the night with even better people.
(Photos by I believe Andrea and Esther, also edited by Andrea)
Another classic stop is Starbucks. Can never go wrong with a coffee break. Sadly I lost my voice on this whole trip for no apparent reason, so actually this was a tea break.
Everyone has their go to meals they make when cooking is just not worth the effort or thought. It is no surprise that tortillas are my go to staple in the kitchen. I literally feel lost if there are none in the kitchen. Some people run to the store the second they run out of milk, I go for my tortillas. Well this is my little variation, chicken fajita "quesadilla." I put quesadilla in quotes because it really has barely any cheese but I don't know what else to call it, maybe a tortilla panini?? Anyways I sauteed onions and peppers with a little paprika and cumin and added some precooked chicken I had in the fridge. Then added it to a tortilla with beans and a tiny bit of cheese and crisped it up in a pan. That was it. Simple, easy, satisfying.
My little personal zucchini parmesan. I was kinda starving while making this and I didn't have time to make my own tomato sauce, instead I used canned crushed tomatoes and sprinkled in onions, garlic, and spices between the layers. So I sliced up a zucchini and and made layers with the sauce and some parmesean and mozzarella. Then just stuck it in the oven for maybe half an hour, basically until it was melted and looked done. 
