Hi,

On this snowy verging on icy day, I dressed with a bit of optimism: "I (heart) Pierogis." A souvenir t-shirt from Pierogi Place, which I believe went out of business.

At Culinary Historians meeting, two people inquired about pierogi.

At (learned from LTH) China Chef in Morton Grove, four different people came up to talk about pierogi. Two tables wanted detailed information on where to get the best pierogi. Fortunately, I had my handy dandy Great Neighborhood Restaurant list with me: I gave them recommendations of Smak Tak and Podhalanka with addresses. I also suggested a third favorite of Cavalier in Hammond, Indiana, though I was without an address. I introduced one table to the other, because they each knew other places to buy pierogis. I left them my e-mail just in case they might need more information.

The Moms and I were chuckling how much conversation this t-shirt was generating.

I walked into H-Mart where I bumped into Rene G. I showed him this conversation generating t-shirt, he immediately said it was spelled wrong. He's right, because the plural is pierogi and singular is pierog. But, that's American-English for you.

I knew when there is one LTHer around, there are bound to be others. I asked Rene G who was with him. No surprise to learn it was Pigmon, Nab and Josephine. My quick stop to buy shrimp diverted into many conversations, sampling and wandering the store. I had to drag myself out of there, because the Moms were waiting in the car.

What a great day it has been!

Regards,

Echoing Cathy's post above, I experienced the following serendipitous meetings when I returned to Chicago for the holidays: Night #1: Ran into JimInLoganSquare and Mrs. JILS in the piano bar at Sabatino's and thanked him for the posts that led me there for dinner. Day #2 Ran into Cathy2 at Hmart, and leaving there, PIGMON called m'th'su to meet us later. He replied he could not join us because he was headed to H-Mart. Day#5 ran into MikeG, King's Thursday, Myles and Liam in front of Fox & Obel who were on their way to have dinner with Cookie and Michael Morowitz. These encounters made me realize yet again that we have a true community here. My New Year's resolution is to meet as many of the newer LTH'ers as I can during the coming year, and to add to the common good by letting people I meet know about LTH.

As the song goes, "Hi Diddle Dee Dee, an [LTH] life for me!"

Hi,

My Dad called from San Franscisco wanting advice on where to dine. His specification was Chinese food close to Moscone Center and Powell St, because he will take BART to the airport. I don't know my way around San Francisco. I irritably quiped, "Nice to be so precise, but it may be a tall order."

I was going to post his very specific request, then thought I might just look around to see what I could learn with existing information. I searched for 'San Francisco Chinese' on the Beyond Chicago forum.

One of the first to pop up was Bill/SFNM recommendation of Jai Yun, which was 1.3 miles from Moscone Center and intersected with Powell. I was really pleased to get a place so on target to Dad's wishlist. I called the restaurant to learn reservations were a must. I read the review a little more closely to find this was going to cost a relative mint at perhaps $100 per person. I knew my Dad wouldn't especially like this aspect.

I remember G Wiv favoring a few places in San Fransciso. I did a search for 'San Francisco Chinese' on the Beyond Chicago forum for specific poster G Wiv. Ton Kiang popped to the top. Unfortunately its address on Geary Street was five miles from Moscone. I later read there was a downhill alert. If I were to recommend it to Dad, I would have asked Gary of his most recent impression.

Went back to my original search to find an enthusiastic post by CrazyC followed quickly by Jeff B who said it would a GNR if in Chicago. I very comfortably advised Dad to visit Yuet Lee, which was 1.6 miles from Moscone and cost about $25 per person according CrazyC's experience. I know she is just as likely to order with enthusiasm as I might. I knew Dad could happily inform his daughter found it on the internet without my being embarassed.

It took longer to write this post than it took to locate this information. What terrific resource we have on this board.

Regards,

Hi,

When you get a friend request on Facebook but you cannot imagine who they may be. A response to a who-are-you question quickly settles the issue, ""did we meet over a sheep's head at the icelandic function?"

Yep, tis true.

Regards,

Hi,

I was at a program last night where people were asked to introduce themselves and answer a question: where would you go if you had one week all expense paid vacation anywhere.

People were all over the globe: Europe, New Zealand, Las Vegas was a popular reply, Pacific Northwest to visit family. I said I would jump in the car to tour around and eat. The host joked, "I guess you could stop in Gary, Indiana," with everyone giggling. I replied quite earnestly, "I could make a day travelling around Gary and eating." More laughter, though I wasn't joking.

If indeed it were really all expenses paid, they'd be surprised the damage I could do running around the USA. They just don't know me well enough.

Regards,

I just remembered one of my first three words was 'cookie'.

When you get an email from a guy named Teodar Bozidan Jovanovic saying "I'm a butcher in Kansas City and I'm going to start selling my home-made cevapcici. I saw on a food board that you might be interested. Would you like a box?" Then you really know you're an LTHer.

Geo
PS. of course I said "let's talk"....

Geo wrote:When you get an email from a guy named Teodar Bozidan Jovanovic saying "I'm a butcher in Kansas City and I'm going to start selling my home-made cevapcici. I saw on a food board that you might be interested. Would you like a box?" Then you really know you're an LTHer.

Geo
PS. of course I said "let's talk"....

If you need some additional folks to split a bulk order, I may know some people who'd be interested in going in on that with you.

Does having a mental rolodex of who eats what & who makes what qualify for the "You know you are an LTH'r when..." thread?

Straight up Khaopaat--I'll keep you posted. So far, no answer from the guy.

BTW, here in Montréal I can get both Serbian cevapcici and Romanian mici, fresh or frozen, from local butchers. If you're ever up this way, let me know.

Geo

You go to Blackbird for dinner and order a "Stuffed bobwhite quail with black cumin sausage, charred avocado and house-made giardiniera"

...and then you eat it, and quite enjoy it but when the server asks you "how was everything?" you tell them "excellent, although I really think y'all should outsource your giardiniera and use Pop's on Kedzie for yours, theirs would work great with this."

...Well a certain type of LTR'r anyway.

Mr. Pie: I had some of that tasty lentil stuff for lunch and then polished off the rest for dinner.
Me: You mean you had the same thing twice in one day?

. . . when you see this headline:

"Gas drilling debate rages in Del. River watershed"

and read it as Gas grilling debate.

=R=

... when the cookbooks you own outnumber all your other books, and you have more food magazines in the house than bills;
when you realize all your travel books are about food;
when the first question you ask upon finding yourself in a new place is "What's good to eat around here?"
when you're the only single person you know who has a full refrigerator, and most of what's in it isn't leftovers 'cause you don't leave any;
when you remember the food you ate at the best parties you've ever been to but can't remember who else was there;
when the two things in your kitchen that are alphabetized are the spices and the condiments;
when you plan your crosstown trip routes with an eye towards either picking up foodstuffs along the way that you haven't tasted in a while, or stopping at a new bakery/butcher shop/chocolate shop/market/take-out spot;
when you spend more time browsing through this forum than your nieces and nephews spend on facebook ...!

...you come back from staycation and you're already planning one for next year—an eating vacation. And all the fun stuff like going to the beach, going to museums, etc. can fit in between.

When you eat brunch with some folks and although you are a vegetarian, you suggest they have the chicken & waffles. Then you almost end up spitting on them when they tell you they can't eat the chicken & waffles because the wings being served clearly suggest that it came from an animal. They can't eat animals when the portion served looks like it came from an animal. Only boneless/skinless chicken breast make the cut because there's no suggestion that it came from an animal.

pairs4life wrote:Only boneless/skinless chicken breast make the cut because there's no suggestion that it came from an animal.

Have you looked at the ingredients list of breaded chicken patties? They might be right.

...you realize that all the pet names you have for your man and your cat are food related.

Pie Lady wrote:...you realize that all the pet names you have for your man and your cat are food related.

Awwww, that's so sweet. Dh likes to call the dog Pumpkin & as Pumpkin's mum, I get stuck with Pumpkin as well or when he's thinking Big Pumpkin. Why did I ever call her pumpkin as a nickname?

pairs4life wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:...you realize that all the pet names you have for your man and your cat are food related.

Awwww, that's so sweet. Dh likes to call the dog Pumpkin & as Pumpkin's mum, I get stuck with Pumpkin as well or when he's thinking Big Pumpkin. Why did I ever call her pumpkin as a nickname?

Could be worse. Sometimes we end up calling the cat Little Bastard.

...you begin planning an out-of-town business trip by consulting "Beyond Chicagoland" for places to dine -- before making appointments, booking airfare, hotel or a rental car.

...the 16 month old is continuously dipping his tiny piece of naan into the raita, and slurping it off with his right hand, and continuously picking up, eating and motioning for more murg makhani with his left, and you think to yourself...success!

Again, I wish LTH had a "like" button...

A friend calls all giddy she is sure she has found a food I have not eaten. I tell her there are plenty of foods I have not eaten yet. She claims I have frequently eaten stuff she never heard of until I mentioned it.

"Ok, what is the food I have likely not eaten?"

"Baby eels!"

"I am pretty certain I have eaten baby eels."

"Real ones? Real ones from Spain that cost over $100!"

Hmmm, I never ate any baby eel dish with such a dear price. I am not certain any were from Spain, which she qualified were where only the real ones come from. I was pretty certain I had had eels in Chinatown, though I could not put a finger on it. So on the qualifier they were not from Spain, I did not eat eels.

When I got home I looked up every mention of baby eels on LTH:

Casa de Samuel

Moon Palace in Chinatown - this is where I know I had baby eel.

KS Seafood, this closed restaurant featured Taiwan French Fries: baby eel fried crisp

BAby eels eaten in Spain thank goodness LTH honor was held high by someone reporting back on baby eel eaten in the Mother country.

Comment on baby eel costs where they can be pretty steep as my friend suggested.

I just love the breadth of information on this board.

Regards,

You read the following Facebook comment:

I'll even Q-tip detail the vents

as someone offering a barbecue tip on Weber kettle airflow, instead of maintaining a sports car.

... you type "www" and your internet browser's first suggestion is lthforum.com.

And your stomach starts to growl.

...you're invited to Fitzgerald's for a concert and your first thought is "Pot Roast Sandwich!"

When you goto a BBQ joint, go out back to wait for your order to smell the wood and food in the air. Then take a pic on the phone of the big old smoke stack with the sweet smells coming out of it and save the photo as your screen saver on your phone.

...you see a movie poster for "Salt" and excited assume that it is based on Kurlansky's "Salt: A World History". Alas, the movie is a spy thriller.

LOL, me, too...though as soon as I saw it starred Angelina Jolie I was pretty sure it couldn't be...

At the Logan Square farmers market last Sunday, I was starving, but also meeting friends for breakfast so didn't really want to fill up. I saw a guy walking by with a taco that looked great and I could smell the aroma from the stand he got it from. My head swiveled following his progress, get a taco now or wait for breakfast?? My friend came up followed my eyes and started laughing, she said I thought you were checking out the guy, but you were checking out his taco.

I was happy I waited when I read this post from Kennyz

carne asada taco at the Logan Square Farmer's Market, from a stand run by some cafe called Cherubs. I've never been to the cafe, and the grey, unseasoned, chewing-gum-textured meat in this thing will not inspire me to try the place.