Tag Archives: restaurants
A Favorite Game: Restaurant City
I’ll admit it. I’m addicted to this game on Facebook. It only makes sense. I like food, building and design, enjoy the multi-tasking and managing. All the fun and none of the risk. You pick the menu, get food as awards, decorate your restaurant and if you manage it well, it grows. At first, my kids were really into it, so naturally, I named our little cafe “Ollie’s”, then “Abby’s” and “Julie’s Cafe”.
It looked like this many, many months ago. And now, the place is “SereniTEA” and has grown by leaps and bounds. I gave it an Asian feel for obvious reasons. The graphics are just so darn cute, from the furnishings to the food. These designers are doing such a nice job with it.
This might make you wonder if all I do is sit around and play video games all day. I can assure you the answer is NO. After a long hiatus from Sim City (another virtual world game that I played years ago.), I found this to be just a fun way to decompress from everything else I do. Anyone else out there play this game?
Unrelated and random thoughts
- The Chicago Craft Social last Friday was another hit! Lots of first-timers, lots of familiar faces, too. Check out my review on Craft Critique soon!
- The T-shirt quilt top is so close to being done! I probably have a few more hours on it. Now if I could just stop blogging, playing, doing chores, etc. and finish the darn thing. *grin*
- I can’t believe Christmas is less than three months away, which means, our cookie exchange is about 2-1/2 months away! Planning will begin soon!
- There’s a new writing opportunity at my door… more on this soon! *** UPDATE! The online newspaper has launched. My articles (like you need more of me?), mostly on food and cooking, will run every two weeks. Thanks for all the support! ***
Dining at Café Touché
I was so excited that Café Touché, a French bistro, opened nearby. Not that I’m a French food expert by any means, but I do enjoy the cuisine. What was interesting was their inclusion of an Étoufée (Creole or Cajun cuisine) on the specials menu on the evening we went. So, they scored points with me. The restaurant itself made me feel more like I was in the French Quarter with the decor: dark wood, artwork.
We ordered the Steak Tartare which came with chips and toast. Steak Tartare is beef, raw and finely chopped. I was a little hesitant at first, but hey, I eat sashimi and sushi. How far off could this be? It was delicious. Smooth, cold, lightly seasoned. And, no, no one got a tummyache, thank you.
I went for the Salad Frisee Lyonnaise and Etouffee Touche (chicken, andouille sausage and shrimp) for my meal. Eastman went with the Pouillon Paillard which was perfect because I was eyeing that too. Sometimes, my eyes are just too big for my stomach. Really, I could be so overweight?! But that’s another story for another time. The poached egg on my salad was perfect – something I haven’t quite mastered at home. And, my etouffee came deconstructed. If you haven’t had etouffee, it’s like stew. Comfort foodish. It was mouthwatering-yummy, andouille had just enough heat.
As we were finishing up our dinner, a couple came by in their vintage car. I’m terrible at identification, so someone else will have to tell me about this cool looking car. Hope that couple enjoyed their dinner as much as we did.
Visiting Long Grove
Every year, we like to visit Long Grove at least once. The biggest reason is for the brown bag apple pie from Apple Haus. It’s everything we want in an apple pie: flaky, buttery crust with a slight crunch, fresh apple chunks, not too sweet.
But before Apple Haus, we stopped by the Glunz Family Winery tasting room and I had this shot of raspberry wine in a chocolate cup. What a great idea for a party opener…
So many things to look at in Apple Haus. Just around the corner are the display cases with…
…pies! This cutey says it serves 1 or 2, but the lady behind the counter said it was good for one.
This is not a great picture of me at all. I was trying to make a “Mr. Egg” face. Talk about cute dish scraper. I ended up buying it and the kids played with it for a few days afterwards.
We do like going to the different stores around Long Grove, especially The Tuscan Table. Eastman is definitely scaring me with the muddler here.
They were so tired after walking around and having an apple donut and apple cider snack. It’s really amazing how much they look like each other. They’re so sweet.
At last, at home with our brown bag apple pie. There’s actually a good chance we’ll be attending the apple festival later this week. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Eating Again, but where?
The pictures of food never stop, do they? Even Abby is getting into it. She loves taking close-up shots and she’s getting better every time. We were running errands and stopped for a snack… can you guess what this is and where it was taken?
Not that this is any help, but here’s another view. We love visiting this neighborhood place, which isn’t in our immediate suburb.
More California journals coming. They’re in the works along with more projects, too.
Checking out the Local Taste Fest
What is summer without a local carnival or food fest? We might not be at the swimming pool at lot, but tasting food… you’ll find us! We paced ourselves this time and went during lunch on two separate days. It was so nice not stuffing ourselves to oblivion, but I’m sorry we didn’t have a chance to taste everything. One day it rained, and vendors weren’t quite ready for the lunch crowd, but otherwise, it seemed like a successful “Taste”.
The Matcha Latte from TeaLula was great relief from the heat. It was like tasting green tea ice cream, melted. Mmmm… And, the Ryne Palmer (a.k.a. Arnold Palmer beverage) can’t be beat: fresh lemonade and fresh brewed tea. Uncle Dan’s, a new place in town, served up cheese pizza and cinnamon bread among other things. Both were tasty, but they ran out of calzones… bummer. I really wanted to try J.D. Kadd’s Smokehouse pulled pork sandwich. Since I’ve stopped working in the south suburbs, I haven’t found a sandwich that compares to the BBQ places near my old office. This one was nicely seasoned, not too salty, generous portions. One of our favorites was the Cajun Shrimp wrapped with bacon & remoulade sauce from Barbara at All on the Road. The shrimp were cooked perfectly, and the sauce had a nice kick. I’m such a sucker for cajun food.
Last year we tried the stuffed mushrooms from Cafe Zalute and were happy they were there again. The junk yard dawg fries at Dawg House Grill were a hit with our kids and us. What’s not to like: cheddar cheese, sour cream and bacon. Lastly, we had a nice portion of Salsaccia (Italian Sausage wrapped in a potato crust) from The 3 Olives. Never had this before, and while it was delicious, it was slightly salty for me. Can’t wait until next year.
