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Chicago - or my wet, hot American summer.

My long time friend Kristin and her boyfriend are attending the University of Chicago and invited us to come for a visit this summer. Our trip from Hartsfield-Jackson to Midway was painless. Britton and I are becoming very efficient travelers (although I need to work on the whole packing only what is necessary aspect.) Kristin picked us up from the airport, demonstrated how friendly Midwestern drivers can be (seriously), and drove us briefly through the Kenwood neighborhood where the Obamas once lived.

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures from our first day in Chicago. It was a bit of a disaster. I don't know how else to say it. We arrived on the hottest day of the year with a heat index of 105 in a northern city meaning mostly no central AC. Kristin and her bf live in a cozy, exposed brick 1 bedroom basement apartment in Hyde Park. The walls are painted bold red and taro root grey-purple. The sunlight peeps in from the street level windows. A sad, silent, never commissioned AC unit stands outside their apartment, unnoticed by the residents until this particular day.

After the usual get-to-knows and haven't-seen-you-in-a-whiles, we grabbed a picnic lunch at the Zaleski and Horvath Market Cafe and proceeded through the sweltering summer air to Promontory Point overlooking Lake Michigan. Here is where the craziness begins, I think. As I am enjoying my artisan sandwich and a view of downtown, I feel a horrible burning sensation on my right ankle. I look down and to my horror at least 8 giant black flies are feasting on me through my socks. Their compound eyes shiny and evil, stared up soullessly at me as their palpi twitched with hunger for human flesh! We fled from the fly attack, and returned to the apartment to recuperate. We spent the next couple of hours planning an epic dinner, shopping, and picking up some awesome good-as-air-conditioning rotating fans.

And then things continued to get worse. As soon as Kristin and I starting setting up for dinner, the power went out. So long wonderful rotating fans, hello roasting in our own sweat. That night Britton and I maybe got 3-4 hours of sleep and the next day, with the power still out we woke up early to grab some iced coffee with our hosts and head into the city.

Hopping off the bus onto a busy street, I felt like a zombie. I was still nursing my iced coffee when I saw a giant painted aluminum owl. I was suddenly awake and demanded Britton take a picture of the Harold Washington Library. Owls are a cultural symbol of knowledge and wisdom, appropriate for a library, and as any 10 year old girl knows, they have big, adorable round eyes and make cute hootie noises.

Britton, an expert in pop culture landmarks, informed me that the Chicago Board of Trade building served as the headquarters of Wayne Enterprises in the movie Batman Begins (which came out 6 years ago, wtf.) In his professional opinion, it is better than The Dark Knight's version.

I wanted to shop (read as: window shop) so we stopped in Water Tower Place, home to Macy's and the American Girl Place. I've tried to explain to Britton the absurd lengths to which American Girl goes to make owning one of their dolls very special. I had a Molly doll and a make-your-own doll (with long auburn hair and green eyes - probably how I wanted to look when I was younger.) I don't think the gravity of American Girl hit him until we walked by the American Girl salon and hospital with real, honest-to-goodness stylists and "surgeons." These professionals were working carefully on the dolls while their owners shuffled back and forth nervously, waiting in anticipation for the final result. Thankfully, if I have a little girl, I already have lots of dolls in good condition with their own hair rollers, bunk beds, school lunches, desks, sled dogs, and snorkeling gear.

In the same shopping center there was a Wow Bao. It was a shop specializing in Chinese steamed buns. Globalization.

We walked through Water Tower and then Bloomingdales. We walked along the "Magnificent Mile" into Anthropologie, Crate and Barrel, Victoria's Secret, and one shop I'd never heard of called All Saints from the U.K. Their clothing was all sorts of grey and black and brown with a hyper industrial, almost steam punk feeling. Weird, overpriced things were going on in there. Like this "trench dress."

For lunch we at a Portillo's, across from the rock and roll McDonald's. A Chicago-style hot dog was on our wish list, and even though I normally hate almost everything that is on a traditional Chicago dog, when eaten together, it is like magic.

After lunch we hopped on the red line to Addison (I think) to see the Cubs vs Astros at Historic Wrigley field. The field was beautifully simple, and the score was still kept by some guy flipping cards behind the scoreboard. No jumbotrons in sight. Many of the brownstones surrounding the stadium had their own set of bleachers (see left side of pic below), so you don't even have to enter the stadium to watch the game. I was amazed at the cult-like following of this baseball team who played a so-so game and didn't have much of a record this year. When the cubs won, everyone stood up to sing this weirdly haunting melody. "Go Cubs Go." I am humming it right now.

After the game, we took a brief jolt through Chinatown only to be disappointed by the size and general tourist-y feeling. I don't know what I was expecting after New York.

On our way back to the aparment, I received a text from our hosts stating the power was still out. We decided to stay in the city for a little longer in hopes that the power would be back on before night fall. Limbs were being trimmed, fences cut down, electrical box things were being opened...they must be working hard to get it back on.

We walked along the riverfront that runs through downtown.

We saw this condo building straight out of The Jetsons with a fitness center, two restaurants, and private dock below the street. Yachts were bobbing around expectantly in the cool evening water.

I also wanted to mention the "L" or the elevated train. Chicago has a well-worn loop of elevated passenger train tracks which screams "antique."

We had Epic Burger for dinner per our friend Aaron's recommendation. The burger was tasty (but no Shake Shack, of course.) They give you the option of frozen yogurt milkshakes which I love. There was an LCD screen updating every time someone tweeted about Epic Burger which I thought was a bit self-aggrandizing. They did have a copy of the latest The Onion right next to their front register. A nice Chicago touch.

Power still out, we hobbled over to Navy Pier around 8:30PM. The place was packed on a Saturday night, no surprise. Lots of families, high schoolers, older couples enjoying the beer garden and live music.

Britton and I sat for a while watching a lightning storm on the horizon towards Indiana (I think.) It was a breath taking sight, one massive cumulonimbus hovering just outside the Chicago skyline.

Around 9:30PM, things get even hairier. Exhausted and still no power, we take the bus back to the apartment and get ready for another long night.

12:30PM Just as my head is about to hit the pillow, I feel a sweet, sweet rush of air as the rotating fans power back on! Yes! Finally. We can get some sleep.

2:30PM Britton awakes loudly, stumbling and ripping power strips out of their sockets. I asked him what's the matter? He said there's water all over the floor. I start to feel around and at the edge of my sleeping bag is about a 1/2 inch of water. We wake up Kristin and her boyfriend who flip the lights on to survey the damage. Their floor is uneven and at the lowest point there's maybe an 2 1/2 inches of standing water. It runs all along the hallway and under their desk, completely soaking several rugs. Apparently the storm water from a heavy storm had backwashed into their utility room from a drain in the floor while we were sleeping. It takes 3 hours to wet vacuum and wipe up all of the water, maybe 12-15 large buckets full. Britton and Andrew, Kristin's bf, got most of the water up before their landlord arrived. Their landlord brought in a crew of men who barely speak English to take care of their apartment and the flooded apartment on the other side.

5:30AM The crew leaves. Our suitcases, all of Britton's shorts, and our sleeping bags are soaked. We try to sleep awkwardly on chairs and on the love seat.

6:00AM The power goes out again.

6:01AM Britton and I are in the beginning stages of a meltdown. All of Britton's clothes are soaked because we put them in the washing machine. Britton books a hotel room. Kristin and Andrew are very apologetic, and maybe close to meltdown as well.

9:45AM Power remains out. We head to the local laundromat with soapy, soaked clothes. We grab some tasty hot breakfast with the hosts, repack our clothes, then head downtown to our awesome, air conditioned room at the Hotel Indigo.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

From this point on, things go pretty smoothly. Unfortunately, we did not get to spend any more time with the hosts. They had a lot going on... what with their floor curling up like tomato leaves and half of their stuff soaked with dirty storm water.

Two long, hot showers and a clothes change later, Britton and I were waiting outside Gino's East for the much-discussed deep dish pizza with a sausage patty the diameter of the pizza. Britton was INSISTENT that we go here. I was a little apprehensive - I didn't want to pay for a colon-cleansing after consuming an ungodly amount of cheese and processed meat.

We got a high top table at the bar. We split a Goose Island 312 or simply a "3-1-2" in Chicagonese.

When the pizza came out, it was not as enormous as I expected. We didn't finish it, but we got pretty darn close.

One great aspect of urban life is that after eating an indulgent meal, you have the opportunity to immediately start burning off those calories. We walked from Gino's down to the Hancock tower off of Michigan Ave. The top of the tower houses a restaurant (reservations required), but there's also a free access bar with pricey but awesome cocktails and a fantastic view of downtown, the Sears (Willis) Tower, and Lake Michigan.

While enjoying the view, I noticed there were an unusual amount of large black spiders in all the windows. This would be totally normal in most buildings, but we were almost 100 stories up and fighting gusts of wind from the lake. You can see one of these spiders in the picture below.

It turns out these little arachnids are Larinioides sclopetaria. They are orb-weaving spiders that normally live on bridges or rocks hanging over water. Their young create balloon-like webs that carry them on the wind to a suitable habitat. In this case, the most expensive residential real estate in Chicago. Cool!

During our last full day of touring, we grabbed some coffee at Intelligentsia near Millenium Park. Intelligentsia offers premium roasted coffee from all over the world, developing relationships with vendors and working to promote the joy of coffee and tea. We enjoyed two nice hot cups of chemex-filtered medium roast. Their mugs had a logo on the bottom which I thought was a nice touch.

Before heading to the park, we also grabbed some sandwiches at Pastoral, a wine, meat, and cheese shop.

Duck confit, cucumber, and quince paste on a baguette.

Millenium Park seemed to be a hodge podge of modern interactive artwork, museums, and green space. I was particularly taken with Cloud Gate. It was ripe with photo opportunities, and everyone around us was clicking away at their iphones or fancy digital cameras. I looked over the whole thing and decided I needed to get at it with some towels and a streak-free cleaning solution.

Here is the giant amphitheater.

Here is a shot of the Crown Fountain where an LED face slowly stretches, smiles, and spouts water from its mouth onto the kids playing in the reflecting pool.

Being a huge science nerd, I wanted to check out The Field Museum. They had a cool looking Whale exhibit as well as a ton of cultural and natural history exhibits. We spent about 3 hours in there, but unfortunately, only one picture made it out. This one:

Britton yelled "Look! It's Sean Connery's favorite dinosaur!"

We wrapped up our day with a quick stroll downtown. There was an enormous Marilyn Monroe Statue stationed (sort of incongruously) near the Chicago Tribune building. It was SURROUNDED by tourists looking up her skirt.

We couldn't help ourselves. Britton joked that this little detail was for the Japanese tourists.

So there you are. The good and the bad, all smushed up together like junk at a discount thrift shop. Chicago had the feel of a large urban city with a friendly, suburban population. Tree-lined streets were ubiquitous. Cubs fans were everywhere. Air-conditioning was a luxury. I can't wait to go back!

Sichuan Cuisine and Ma Po Tofu.

Exploring the ins and outs of Chinese cuisine and home cooking is my ongoing pursuit. I love finding unique dishes while eating out and then smelling up my kitchen trying to recreate it at home.

The bulk of traditional Chinese cuisine stems from what is referred to as "the eight culinary traditions." Each tradition is exemplified in the cuisine of eight Chinese provinces: Guangdong ( I know it as Cantonese), Anhui, Fujian, Hunan, Shandong, Jiangsu, Sichuan, and Zhejiang. This link does a decent job of describing the characteristics of each tradition.

The Sichuan province is right smack dab in the middle o'China. It's got its little provincial nose up in erryone's bidness. Maybe that's why Sichuan dishes taste sooooo good.

Before Martinis and IMAX at Fernbank one night, I took a trip to Johns Creek, GA to try out Cafe Q. Cafe Q serves up some rather authentic Sichuanese dishes filled with garlic and chili oil. We ordered a soup called "White Pepper and Vinegar" that was well-balanced and light. The manager told us it was "very chinese" because the ingredients were so fresh and simple.

We also ordered a spicy fried chicken dish, braised eggplant stuffed with shrimp, and the dish I always associate with Sichuan - Ma Po Tofu. It's essentially soft tofu with cooked ground pork served in a spicy bean and chili oil sauce. I've heard that it is actually mind-numbingly spicy if made using traditional ingredients.

I found a recipe online I love - a Korean variation on Ma Po Tofu that includes the not-so-Sichuanese black bean sauce instead of spicy bean paste. The recipe includes chopped kimchi to add some heat, but I sometimes add sambal oelek chili paste when I'm feeling wacky.

The original post is available at Cooking for the Single Guy - the man is super skinny, but he's always eating. Where does it all go? /hate

I actually think you can now find all of the ingredients at a regular urban supermarket thanks to globalization. I saw a jar of Kimchi in the produce section of Publix the other day. The recipe calls for turkey, but I used pork. You don't want to get mixed up with a lady like me. I'm a loner, Dottie, a rebel.

Follow the recipe loosely and with a growing awareness of your own awesomeness for creating a real, Chinese home-cooked meal right in your very own galley studio apartment kitchen. Serve with brown rice.

For a more authentic recipe and how-to, check out this post at Serious Eats.

Lemony Summer Fruit Tart

With Britton begging me to listen to him read aloud his old Transformers comics until he left for his T2 tennis match this evening, I knew I had to take drastic measures. I had to look busy, but not like I was avoiding him. My solution: blog. Just the right amount of typing, pausing, and concentrated looks needed to fill 30 minutes.

Not too long ago I had a girls' night (and day) with my bestie Julie. While we wandered around Whole Foods looking for some pre movie snacks, Julie pointed to the bakery counter filled with these adorable Tartelettes aux fruit. They were so very light and sweet - I had to attempt them in my own kitchen.

I perused recipes for an hour, vacillating on what kind of cream filling to make. I had an issue with the blandness of the pastry cream filling in the Whole Foods version, so I jazzed it up with lemon juice and lemon zest. I also decided to make a whole pie-size tart. Although I love tiny things, it would be a lot of work for just little old me. I passed on the jelly-like glaze you find on most tarts because a) this thing wasn't going to last through the weekend and b) there are enough calories in this mofo as it is.

You are going to need to zest those lemons like no tomorrow. And if you are like me, you will find a tiny little bowl in which to admire your handy work.

Then prepare your lemon curd filling. This is the money shot.

Voila! Fruit tart.

Lemony Summer Fruit Tart

1 of your favorite pie crusts (I think a shortbread crust is more traditional. Frankly, I used a premade crust)

Lemon Curd:

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup whole cream (I think half and half may work here. Haven't tried it)
1/3 cup lemon juice
Zest from 2 grated lemons (You can reduce the lemony flavor at this point if prefer a little less "Kapow" and "Shazaam" and "Oh god yes.")
pinch of salt

Prepare your favorite pie crust and bake the crust to a very light brown. Allow the pie crust to cool on the counter. Add eggs and sugar to a mixer and mix until combined. Removed to a small sauce pan, add the remaining ingredients, and cook on medium heat until thick and glossy. Fill the pie crust with your luscious lemon filling and chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Cut FRESH fruit. I said fresh, dammit.

Strawberries

Blackberries

Blueberries

Kiwi

Mango

Arrange these beautifully or horrifically atop your chilled, filled pie. The filling should be solid enough to hold all the fruit in place. Cover the tart and chill again for another 30 min. Serve tart to yourself semi-naked on the floor while watching Bones and simultaneously watching videos of kittens.

I love Breakfast!

No, really. I. LOVE. BREAKFAST.

I love it the way my boyfriend loves 80's sports movies, the way my friend Andrew loves anime, the way my sister loves photography, or the way my coworker Bridget loves mushrooms. It is profound and poignant and completely engrossing.

It is my favorite meal of the day. Unfortunately, most week days I make do with a cup of coffee and a small bowl of Cracklin' Oat Bran or Special K Red Berries before I'm out the door.

I actually bought this shirt in dark blue after I saw it on some lunch ladies during an inspection. I squealed and said, "Oh my god, where did you get that shirt?" And the cafeteria manager, half smiling, half thinking I was nuts, quickly handed me the order form and stepped away. People are always afraid of me for one reason or another.

Today was a cup of coffee day, but tomorrow I am making this delicious this chewy-lookingboule in Britton's Le Creuset (another passion of mine.) I may even try this herbed crepe. The recipes are straight off the website XO Breakfast. This lady named Noelle in Pasadena, CA is also in love with breakfast and things shaped liked hearts. Check it out.

Happy breakfasting!

Los Angeles, CA: Days 3 and 4

Well, it's about damn time I got around to posting this mess. It's been almost two months since my vacation to California, and I haven't even said a word about the second leg of my trip.

The third day of our California adventure began with drousy zombie packing and breakfast at Richard Walker's Pancake House. By this point, I was really good running on just a cup of coffee and some strawberries. The crazy vendors were taking us to long, lavish meals, and I was frankly sick of eating out by this point. Death by steak dinner. Murder by menus. Sorry. I can't help myself sometimes.

After dropping off the coworkers at the airport, we picked up a rental car and headed over to Coronado Island to see the sights for a bit before making our way to the San Diego Zoo. Here's Britton hamming it up as we walk out on to the gorgeous beach.

From the beach we were able to see out into the crystal blue Pacific. Tiny volcanic-looking islands arose from the sea, barely visible in the haze. Stone jetties stuck out into the water like big balancing beams. It was scenic, in the truest sense of the word.

Coronado Island is home to the Hotel del Coronado, a National and State historic landmark. It was a frequented vacation destination for Hollywood stars in the early days of film, and was featured in the film Some Like it Hot (starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon. It was surprisingly reasonably priced in the off season, and inside and out, still has classic charm.

I was too busy navigating and freaking out about going to the zoo to take that many pictures. It was a childhood dream of mine to visit the San Diego Zoo, and it didn't hit me until the day after that I had actually been there. The zoo was filled to the brim with exhibits - everywhere you turn there were animals peeping lazily at their toes or scratching themselves inappropriately. Britton and I were chattering the whole time, trying to figure out what to see next, what was different about this zoo compared to Atlanta, and which animal was the most interesting.

In the entomology section, we could not resist this zany photo op. No one was around to take our picture, so we took two different pictures. You'll just have to look from one picture to another really quickly until you see both of us together or get so dizzy you pass out and hallucinate.

There were several baby animals at the zoo, but this baby hippo was ridiculously cute and its mom was ridiculously huge.

Here we are riding a moving sidewalk up to the Africa exhibits. To our left were hyenas and wild dogs running along one dog trail to another.

After a long day of animal-loving, we headed over to Mission Beach to have a few drinks with Britton's childhood friend Carlos and Carlos' girlfriend, Sara with no H.

After drinks, we cruised up "The Five" in the late evening. Unfortunately it was too dark to see the coast line as we headed towards our hotel near the airport in LA. I could just make out the lights from Disneyland as we passed through Anaheim.

The next day began with some exciting California-esque scenery, but unfortunately, I was hanging out with locals so I decided not to whip out my camera and give myself away. We met Britton's cousin Cris and a Carter family friend at his home in Hermosa Beach. The air was fresh, the beach was packed, the sun was shining. It was fantastic. People were ROLLERBLADING. I am serious, you guys.

We had brunch (my favorite meal) at La Playita. The name literally means "the beach." We ordered a pitcher of screwdrivers, but the waiter didn't give me a glass. When Cris summoned him back over, he gave me a double take, thinking I was under age. I still don't think he was entirely sure as he gingerly placed a clean glass in front of my plate.

After a leisurely, conversation-filled walk on the pier, Britton and I packed up the rental car and headed for Hollywood.

After some insane navigating (on my part) and bad traffic (Chinese New Year parade,) we made it up the long and windy road to the Griffith Observatory. Below, in the distance, are the big white Hollywood letters.

Not only does the observatory have a big ass telescope, it also has some interesting science and space-themed interactive exhibits. The foucault pendulum in the lobby was the first layman's experiment for demonstrating the rotation of the earth. Britton and I immediately thought it looked like the scary swinging compass of uncertain destiny from Lost. And look, Tesla and his wacky electrical cloud generating coil.

The best thing (IMHO) about the Griffith observatory is the sweeping views of LA. The smog seemed pretty thick (to me, anyway) so it was difficult to make out downtown. LA is in a basin geographically. All their air pollution collects and floats above the city like a snuggly, sulphuric blanket.

Honey badger don't care.

Look at that man. Isn't he unfairly handsome?

And of course, what would a space museum be without a theater named after Leonard Nimoy? The cosmic ballet goes on.

And in case you are like me, and finally watched Rebel Without a Cause just five years ago, the Griffith Observatory is where the final scene of the movie was shot.

As our journey took us deeper into the seething bowels of Hollywood, things started getting a little ugly. Honest to god, Hollywood. Kind of a shithole.

Here's the Capitol Records building. Not sure what goes on there, but Britton said it was notable. Note the cracked side walks.

And out in front of the Chinese theater. People were taking so many pictures, you could not stand anywhere without getting in somebody's way. And there were creepy artist-homeless-waifs wondering around in dingy Superman and Spongebob costumes. A very sad world-worn Mary Poppins tried to give us an uncertain smile, her mouth somehow frowning despite her best effort. I was terrified. What is this place? I whispered "Let's get the hell out of here" to Britton as we hurried back in the fading daylight, the wolves howling in my swirling imagination.

We managed to escape the head shops and lingerie stores of Hollywood, driving along Sunset Blvd. We descended upon West Hollywood and grabbed a bunch of cupcakes (after waiting in an unexpectedly long line) from Sprinkles. They sell themselves as the progenitor of haute cupcakes. Britton was worried about the impossible expectations for these sugary confections, but we both agreed they were fantastic and scarfed one down in the car.

On our way to Santa Monica, Britton swerved around and demanded we take a picture of "Nakatomi Tower." Nakotomi was a fictional corporation in the awesome action movie Die Hard, but the tower actually exists in Century City, CA. It is the official headquarters of Twentieth Century Fox. It was too dark to take a picture of the actual tower, so Britton settled on the plaza. The security guard outside was busy talking to someone as I expertly snapped a photo of the lobby before Britton swerved back out onto the street *cue screeching brakes.*

We grabbed a late dinner at the Father's Office in Santa Monica per a recommendation from my roomie during the emergency preparedness training in January. We both had a glass of microbrew and their famous burger with onions and bitter arugula.

Roly-polying our way to the car, Britton and I had a "What do you want to do? I don't know. What do you want to do?" conversations. Then, Britton, with an excited grin, proclaimed we were going back to the observatory, to see the city at night.

LA at night was glittery and bright. Streams of dotted light thrown every which way, highways pulsing orange and yellow. There were twinkles from homes all along the Hollywood hills. It was breathtaking in way that makes you consider the crushing magnitude of time and the ephemeral nature of human history. It was also pretty windy.

I fell in love with it. California, anyway. I don't think I'll ever forget my first Pacific breeze or the strange smell of hot coffee on a palm-tree lined sidewalk or my bare feet on a shell-stone jetty, peering out onto the curve of the world.

Calfornia. I'll BE BOCK.