October: life & food
Wow, where did the month go? I do find myself saying that pretty often this year, but this past month especially, with no food projects to look back on, makes it all feel like such a blur.
Let’s see where this month went…
The election, obv, that whole thing. That dread brewing in the back of my mind, building all the way up to election day. Tuesday night, I went to sleep dreaming about Biden taking Texas after seeing all the red before the mail-in ballots were counted. On Saturday, we went to Michigan Ave to be among the crowd and take in the celebration. Standing right in the middle of the outpours of joy and relief, the loud honking, cheering, it was the safest I’ve felt in years.
Obviously a lot of damage can be done until January, and I won’t be able to fully breathe until the orange is evicted. This is not exactly a progressive victory either. But for a few moments, like a whole afternoon, I got to feel like a rock was lifted from my chest that was suffocating me the past four years. It was nice.
Kamala. I never really gave much thought to just how much representation matters. Thinking back, it always did matter to me as kid. I always related automatically to the one token Asian character on every TV show. I didn’t think I’d care that an Asian woman is going to be the VP, but for a full day, I couldn’t help but tear up every time I thought about it. I never thought I needed it, but in a very fuzzy roundabout way it makes me feel so valued as a citizen.
My allergic reaction?? I’m suffering from full-body hives and rashes from an unknown source. Just when I thought it’s gone, it comes back. I just want it to be over. It’s itchy, and it gives me the heebie jeebies to look at, but worst of all, I can’t take hot showers :(((((((
Rosie’s bladder stones. I’ve just been stressed over this most of all. Since the end of September, Rosie’s been dealing with a UTI that ended up being/becoming a bladder stone. This has cost us thousands of dollars over multiple vet visits, and she had to switch to a new special prescription food. At her worst, she needed up to 10 pee trips up and down the elevators a day, and she’d still have sudden accidents without warning. Her body had a hard time adjusting to the new diet, so that was difficult for us to figure out for a while too. But overall, her health seems to be improving now. Fingers crossed.
Pretty boring October, honestly. Not much happened in life. Not much can happen with the new COVID surge. It’s so strange to hear people say “xxx was back during the pandemic” AS IF THERE ISNT A PANDEMIC RIGHT NOW STILL.
Anyway. We did eat some good food in an incredibly stressful October:
THE number one food that made our October: maqluba by Noah’s patient’s family. It almost brought me to tears, just how simple but perfectly cooked and seasoned every single component was. It was so delicious, I had three servings on the first day. AND we still had enough for three full dinners. I’ll never forget this meal or the way it tasted for a long time.
A distant second, Ever. Our only indoor meal since March. Eating a fancy meal indoors, being so well taken care of, and eating all those beautiful dishes off, the whole experience was a very comforting moment of normalcy. Even if it was just a fleeting, false sense of normalcy, it was still really nice. The food was beautiful, the service was impeccable, but I think maybe I’ve outgrown fancy tasting menu experiences. It felt really expensive for what it was, and even though the food was perfectly executed and each plate looked like a piece of art, it wasn’t mindblowing or truly memorable.
Pizza! Noah’s friend from his restaurant days was doing a pizza raffle for charity, and I guess Noah donated enough to automatically “win” a pizza. But they ended up inviting us over and cooking us a second pizza to share and chat. They are very enthusiastic and methodical cooks and really got their pizza process down to a science. We were so lucky to be able to eat that delicious thing two days in a row!
Monteverde. Lemon, my childhood friend from when I was 5 in China, was coming through Chicago, so we grabbed an outdoor patio meal. She came during a particularly nasty rainy week, and it took a lot of searching to decide on an interesting/memorable place to take a guest that also had a heated (dog-friendly) patio. Monteverde was never that high on my list because of the way the chef was portrayed on S9 of Top Chef, but I have to admit, the pasta was so damn good. All the food was great, but the pasta was outstanding, and truly memorable. Perfect texture, great balance of flavors, would definitely eat here again.
Due to high vet bills, we put a spending freeze on frivolous purchases (aka takeout) partway through October. Most of our dinner meals have been hot pot. Almost 2 weeks straight of hot pot dinners. And I would keep eating it if I wouldn’t have to physically step into H Mart for more sliced meat. I bought different hot pot soup bases and made different dipping sauces for variety, but the food mostly stayed the same. It’s the one meal we don’t wolf down in 5 minutes because we physically can’t, and it ends up being pretty healthy and vegetable forward.
The few things we did cook/bake for fun:
overnight whole wheat bread with instant yeast - lacked complexity of flavor, tbh
a yeasted take on gooey butter cake from Claire’s new book - good coffee cake, but not really reminiscent of gooey butter cake. (The book is ok, better for a beginner baking enthusiast)
Noah made eclairs because he thought he could do it easily after watching british bake-off. Then we had to use up his failures in a chocolate tart.
Deep dish pizza, but pie - followed Chef Brian’s recipe but didn’t have a good sized pan, so I made pie. In retrospect I should have piled on way more sauce, but the component recipes are good for a real deep dish!
Finally, honorable mention: yuk gae jang instant ramyun flavored potato chips. It is physically impossible not to eat the whole bag - another reason I don’t want to go into H Mart anymore. They taste remarkably like honey butter chips, just with ramen packet spice added to them. The concept kind of reminds me of a Korean flavored old bay seasoning. The only thing that would make them better is if they were kettle-style thicker chips.
Even though the pandemic is getting worse in the US, our lives are shifting further away from a quarantine style of living. So I don’t know how much I’ll post. Or if we’ll survive, tbh. I’m still as anxious as ever. Guess we’ll take it one month at a time.