Balsamic Grilled Pears and Figs

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I don't know if I should call this breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert. It's warm enough and delicious enough for a cold Fall breakfast. It's the perfect side for a lunch or dinner side. And, man, this is easily sweet enough on its own to suffice for a sugary dessert.

Balsamic Grilled Pears and Figs
Ingredients:

• 1/2 pear, sliced into 1/2 inch thick pieces
• 4 figs, cut in halves
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Directions:

1. On an oil-sprayed grill pan, grill figs for 3-5 minutes, turning regularly.
2. Once the figs begin to brown, add pears. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and grill for 2 minutes, then turn and grill on the other side for 2 minutes. 
3. Transfer figs and pear slices to a bowl, layering figs on the bottom and pears on top. Drizzle again with balsamic vinegar and eat!

Long Live The Art of Brunch

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This is a season of re-adjustment for me, as we have moved to a completely new city and I have begun a new season of my career. 

Part of my adjustment, thank God, has involved lots and lots of brunch.

When we were living in Chicago and life was a lot more hectic, brunch was undoubtedly a 'thing.' Warm or cold, we would venture out to some of our favorite brunch spots and take our seats to be served a delicious meal. It was always a highlight of the weekend.

But, as I am growing into my new life, I am learning something.

 There is something incredibly intimate about a leisurely brunch at home, 

whether it is just you and your significant other, 

or you are hosting for family and friends.

I love it...

...the silverware and bowls that are uniquely yours, gifts from loved ones and significant people in your life

...the prosecco cork still sitting on the table, adding to the experience of knowing you are in a comfortable and private place 

...the bacon that is prepared just the way your loved ones like it (...hopefully)

...the coaster with your monogram on it

...the entire bottle of bubbly sitting at your table, allowing you to serve yourself - or choose not to - without fanfare, and without finding a server to place an order

...the ability to completely disregard time, to talk about whatever you want without having strangers nearby, to have intimate conversations uninterrupted by a water refill or being handed the check

I don't want the art of brunch to die. 

The art of hosting, of creating an experience for the people you love. 

The time invested in a delicious table full of food, 

and the leisurely experience of taking as long as you freaking want to eat it. 

Cheers to that.

Herbed Two Potato Home Fry Hash, AKA Breakfast Crack

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You are reading my blog, so clearly you trust my ability to identify something that is seriously freaking good. Here you go:

You know how some restaurants have the most delicious home fries? I did not truly discover this magical madness until my husband and I started frequenting The Breakfast Club. They have created the most amazing home fries using large chopped potatoes and tons and tons of herbs. (P.S. Live in Chicago? Go there. It is understated and unassuming and DECORATED LIKE IT'S STRAIGHT OUT OF THE BREAKFAST CLUB MOVIE.

Anyway. Moving on in 3... 2... 1...

I recently was in a bind to make a side dish for four people, but only had half of the amount of potatoes I really needed. So, I chopped up some sweet potatoes as well, and made this two potato home fry hash. It was delicious, herby, and yumstown.

Herbed Two Potato Home Fry Hash

Ingredients:

• 2 sweet potatoes
• 1 1/2 cups yukon potatoes (or any regular potatoes)
• 1 1/2 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• Green onions or chives
• 1 tbsp Olive oil

Directions:

1. Cut ingredients into 1/2-1 inch thick pieces.
2. Toss potatoes and chopped onion with olive oil and italian seasoning.
3. Sautee for 10 minutes over medium heat. 
      
4. Add as many chopped green onions and/or chives as you'd like.
5. Increase heat to high and let sit for a few minutes until the potatoes are browning, then stir and do the same thing again, until most sides are browning or beginning to burn. 
6. Serve!

Notes:

• This is DELICIOUS with some eggs and meat mixed in. Try using leftovers with some chorizo or taco meat and a few scrambled eggs, topped with cheese for a delicious breakfast!

WHAT ABOUT YOU?

• Any recipes people have told you are so amazing they are crack-like in their ability to keep you coming back for more? I've been told that about this chickpea cookie dough dip (and it also happens to be the recipe that brings me the most search results hits, so people must be spreading the word!).
• What's your go-to breakfast side?

Eating and Drinking My Way Through The City

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As I gathered my pictures from the weekend, I realized that the majority of my photos are of food. Go figure. Apparently I ate and drank my way through the city of Chicago.

Before my condition worsened...

We kicked off Friday with Delirium Day at Paddy Long's. The Irish restaurant is known for its bacon laden menu, so we combined delirium tremens with everything bacon. I had a bacon quesadilla. It was delicious and filling.

As luck would have it, I have developed an allergy to some beer (Dear God, don't let this spread to Guinness...). So, thirty minutes into the event, I was suddenly a snot ball (glamorous, I know) and could hardly breathe. We stayed as long as we could, but when our friends decided to change venues, we had to call it quits and cab it home. 

Handsome husband :)

The next morning, we were feeling lazy. After our weekend in Holland, we still hadn't had the time to properly grocery shop, so we were out of supplies. The logical answer? Breakfast date.

Entirely mismatched. The Carly Brunch Special.

After a delicious (read: HUGE) meal at The Breakfast Club, we walked around for a bit and ended up stopping to by a chocolate bar. After said huge breakfast. At my behest. Because I apparently needed it at the time. It's not what you think.

A few hours later, after I realized how much junk I'd put into my body, I decided to get some fresh air and took the dog on a jog. We headed toward Wicker Park, spent some time drinking from the fountain there (just her... not me), and eventually came home about an hour and a half later.

It's fall, isn't that enough of an excuse?

...which was just in time for me to put more food into the machine. I made gluten free, upside-down apple pie and topped it with organic vanilla bean ice cream. Recipe coming tomorrow...

How much leopard is too much leopard?

Sunday morning, I woke up to a clean apartment. No, the cleaning fairies didn't visit during my slumber -- we spent a few hours cleaning the day before. We headed out on a walk with the dog, and I continued to shamelessly wear my leopard print Aerosoles. Seriously, it's like walking on a cloud.

Husband-made. Wife-approved.

My wonderful husband (are you reading this, babe?) had gone grocery shopping during my jog with the dog (dogjog, anyone?), so we had all the supplies we needed for a delicious breakfast. He made me egg whites with sauteed veggies, and I sprinkled nutritional yeast on top. Compared to the day before, I was getting an A+ for nutrition.

New specs!

A few hours later, after a run at the gym and, yes, more cleaning, we headed back to Wicker Park to meet my parents for dinner at Mana Food Bar. It was amazing the first time I went (after a girls spa day), and I was still impressed this time. The men weren't quite as excited, but it was a meatless dinner, so I don't know what I was thinking bringing them there.

Pineapple and Ginger Sake Cocktail at Mana... and my dry cleaning label that I didn't realize was on my jacket until we arrived! Oops...

My mom and I both tried their Pineapple Ginger Sake Cocktail, and it was amazing. I also love their Coconut Water and Lime, but this may have been better. It's hard to say. Either way, that's a good tie in my opinion!

Last but not least? We stopped by Shit Fountain. Pardon my French... but it is engraved on the fountain!

What about you?

• Have you ever been to a Vegan restaurant?
• Do the men in your life require meat for their meals?

Bruleed Bananas and Dates in Chobani

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I used to focus so heavily on recipe posting that my recipe list would grow by 2 or 3 each week. Now? As I focus a bit more on real life, the recipes have been few and far between.

#Oops. I guess this blog is as versatile and changing as real life. #SorryImNotSorry

That said, sometimes I make something that is just so delicious, it pretty much comes out of the oven screaming "SHARE ME ON THE BLOG!" Like a mandrake root kind of scream (Harry Potter for the win). A girl has to oblige.

This recipe is an awesome breakfast, mid-day snack, or even dessert. Don't hesitate to swap out ingredients, like using a different greek yogurt (or regular yogurt, if you must). If you want it a bit sweeter, feel free to use vanilla instead of plain yogurt.

Bruleed Bananas and Dates in Chobani

Ingredients:

• 1 Banana
• 1 tbsp Sugar, for sprinkling
• 3 Dates
• 2 tbsp Organic Shredded Coconut, No sugar added
• 1 tbsp Sliced Almonds (Walnuts, Pistachios or Pralines would be delicious here, too)
• 1/2 cup Plain Greek Yogurt
• Parchment paper

Directions:

1. Slice banana into 1/2-1/4 inch pieces. Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet and sprinkle sugar on top of banana pieces. Broil for a few minutes, until the sugar has browned. Set aside.
2. Chop dates.
3. Scoop yogurt into a bowl or cup. Add banana slices, then sprinkle with dates, shredded coconut, and almonds.
4. Enjoy the heck out of that bowl of delicious goodness.

Sangria, Lush Wine, and Crazy Food

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We kicked off the weekend with a night of food and drinks. I've been eyeing a BYOB joint called Gaudi Cafe for a while now, ever since my sister went there on New Years Eve and raved about it. So, Friday we finally made it over there with our neighbors.

Their menu seems very European inspired, with many Spanish tapas style dishes. Everything was delicious, but my favorite dish was the fried goat cheese on house made garlic toast.

Inside that perfectly round ball is warm, gooey, melty goat cheese. Makes me weak in the knees...

Another interesting thing about this restaurant: If you bring your own wine, they'll turn it into Sangria  for just a few bucks. We brought a bottle of white, which we had them Sangria (Yes. It's a Verb, now).

The server came back with four glasses filled with Sangria, and a pitcher that held the rest. When I asked her what they do to turn it into Sangria, she said they add some Sprite, Triple Sec, and chopped apples. I'm not a huge fan of Sprite (or any soft drinks, for that matter), but it was definitely tasty and refreshing, so I would do it once in a while. It took the edge off of what was otherwise a somewhat bitter Pinot Grigio.

On top of the bottle of white wine, we also brought a pack of Guinness and a bottle of red. In hindsight, it was like we were just asking for a hangover. The table was covered in glasses from our various different beverages. Oops?

After dinner and drinks, the four of us came back to our apartment. It was our neighbor's birthday (we were with her) starting at midnight, so we counted down the clock and popped some bubbly to celebrate.

Afterward, we pretty much passed out. 

Hand Stamped Birthday Card + Ribbon + Bubbly = Success!

Generally, when I've had at least a few drinks, my internal clock wakes me up around 5 or 6am (ah!) to chug water. So, I downed about 8 cups of water, took some vitamins and advil, and passed out again for a few hours.

By the time I woke up for good, I felt like a million bucks. Thumbs up. I even had the energy to make this delicious breakfast: Plain Greek Yogurt, Charred Banana Slices (Slice a banana, then put slices on a baking sheet and broil in the oven until brown), 1 tsp Chia seeds, 1 tsp Sliced Almonds, 1 tsp Hemp Seeds, 1 tsp Maple Syrup drizzled. 

It was utterly delicious and I think my fiance actually finished his bowl (sometimes when I get fancy like this he is a little hesitant). Good job, Carly.

After breakfast, we chilled out and watched Silver Linings Playbook. I was totally expecting it to be a romantic comedy...  not so much. Romantic? Yes. Comedy? No. More like Romantic Drama. That said, by the end, I was in tears and happy. No spoilers here... just love for the movie!

Post-movie, I headed to the gym for a run. I watched about 3 episodes of The Mindy Project on a treadmill and ended up at just shy of 6 miles. Seriously, when it comes to long cardio workouts, Netflix on an iPad is the bomb. Just keep running, just keep running, just keep running, running, running. What do we do? We run... (YES. FINDING NEMO.)

When I got back to the apartment, I had a leisurely shower and used a new argon oil soak on my hair. I don't usually do much to my hair (honest - I cut it about every year or more), so my hair was probably starving for some TLC. 

My fiance wasn't feeling well, so I played doctor while I got ready. I had plans to meet some of my girlfriends from high school at a wine store / wine bar called LUSH, so I got a little excited and did the typical girl-getting-ready-to-meet-other-girls makeup regime. The Mindy Project was playing in the background as I got ready in our Uber-Mirror (It's taller than my 6 foot 7 fiance, so I feel like the title is warranted).

My fiance dropped me off at LUSH and I took a peek around as I waited for my girlfriends to arrive. This place is really fun - they have a wine store on one side, and then you can bring your wine to the other side and they will help you pair your wine purchases with some delicious food. Everything from meat and cheese plates to crazy pop corns to delicious soups. They do have a full menu too, so I suppose you could go there just for food. Like I would ever pass up a good vino.

I was really digging the hand written description for this bottle of white wine... white flowers and honey? Twist my arm, already.

They also have an Under-10-Dollar rack for both reds and whites, which was pretty awesome. My girlfriends arrived and we hit that rack pretty hard. I left with two bottles (one petite shiraz for dinner, one cabernet sauvignon from south africa to bring home to my fiance), and my girlfriends also made some purchases.

All three of my girlfriends were starving, so we decided that the wine-bar-esque menu at Lush wasn't quite enough to fill them up. The good thing is that there are a number of good BYOB options around Noble Square, so we checked them out. Shaman, a mexican place, had a 45 minute wait, and the latin place next door was also packed. We ended up opting for a Puerto Rican restaurant across the street named Cafe Central.

The place was pretty much dead, which should have indicated the quality of the food. I don't want to turn this post into a Debbie Downer rant about how horrible this place was, so if you're actually interested, you can read my Yelp review. The short story is that the food was awful and dry and just extremely disappointing. But, hey, we bonded over how awful it was, and we had great wine from Lush, so everything was good in the end. [Gratitude for the small things, people.]

Post-awful-dinner, we headed back to my apartment to polish off another bottle of wine, a white Chardonnay from Languedoc. My girlfriends left my place around ten to head to some bars in Lakeview, and I stayed back to be a lame person. 

Yet again, I woke up around 5am on Sunday, chugged water and took vitamins, and hit the hay again. By the time I woke for good, my fiance was insistent on going to The Breakfast Club. I ordered an egg white omelet with onion, spinach, bacon, feta, and tomato slices on the side. My fiance got the meat lover's skillet. Aren't we just an image of gender stereotypes? #NotAshamed. 

At home, I made a delicious iced coffee drink for myself as we started a marathon of Homeland. In a mason jar, I added ice, about an inch of Coconut Milk, filled it to the rim with cold coffee, and then added a few drops of Chocolate NuNaturals. Stir and viola! Wonderful, delicious goodness. Let's call it Chocolate Coconut Ice Coffee. 

And, regarding Homeland... can I just say that Dana annoys the living heck out of me? I used to think Carrie was the crazy one... but now I don't mind her as much. Now, I just think Dana is an annoying kid, and Jess is just a bee-yotch. 'Nuff said.

During our marathon (seriously, we watched like 8 hour-long episodes), I munched on some Edamame for dinner and made a bunch of chicken for us to eat and save for lunches this week. The Edamame was pretty awesome because it sort of felt like eating popcorn at a movie theater. Except... it wasn't pop corn. So... boom. 

In closing, here's my favorite shot of the weekend: My handsome fiance and my beautiful pup. They are just too cute to handle. I want to squish them.

So, how was your weekend?

• What was the best thing you ate? The fried goat cheese on garlic toast at Gaudi Cafe was utterly amazing. I would like to eat that for breakfast and lunch and dinner, forever.
• The worst thing? The fried halibut at Cafe Central was nasty, as was the side of "Mofungo" I got. Just... gross.