My wife has an unproven but very possible hypothesis that each location, while having a lot of the same product, also carries products specific to the ethnic makeup of the area it's located. So some might be more Greek goods, some Baltic, Polish, Russian, etc. Her parents immigrated from Eastern Europe as children, and she grew up eating a mix of traditional European and American foods. In particular, she buys a bread from a certain country that she can only find in one FF store. I'm like a kid in the candy store walking through FF, so I haven't tried to figure out which is which :).

Microplane is the name of the tool so it also is used to describe the method. Microplane is a name brand of IMO the best of these rasp type graters and it has become almost generic when referring to rasps and fine graters.

That is definitely true of the Devon location, and theoretically makes sense because Touhy seems to have a lot of halal stuff. Though I would have expected more Korean stuff at Golf. That said, we were in a bit of a hurry so I did not do a detailed study.

You respond well to compliments. I feel like this picture is even prettier than previous food you’ve photographed. Well done. 👩‍🍳

ALL her food pictures are mouth watering, and I am the first to ring her door bell when am back in LA. The rest stand in line please.:p we will give you the leftovers.;)

Wow!! Flattery will get you everywhere! thank you---what a nice thing to say. Gosh. :D

Lol..you and Bama are making my day. Thank you, too!

I looked in the pantry and freezer and some “use by” dates were approaching on food I bought in anticipation of corona- inspired shortages. We already ate the first package of frozen Armour meatballs and decided they might be super balls left over from the 1980’s. The Mezzetta sauce was thin but tasted fine. The green beans are from the garden and the gnocchi had wonderful texture and took on a fragrance and flavor from the sauce and made it their own. Half a crusty loaf came from the freezer and of course shaved Parmesan improves everything.


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What's for Dinner
 

Grilled pork ribs, crab cake and sides.


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Greek salad (inspired by a recent trip to Athens). First try, pretty good if I may say so!

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Sous vide (pan finished) salmon with broccoli, marinated carrots, wood ear mushrooms, and brown rice.
Mrs. CoffeeTraveler requested salmon for dinner. Came out nicely.

It did!! What is on the salmon?

Trader Joe’s pineapple teriyaki sauce. Just a couple tablespoons added to the pan during the finishing steps.

Leftover bakery pizza:
arizmendi balsamic / walnut white (today)
black jet baking sourdough sausage (Friday)
big mixed salad with BEC croutons


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What’s for dinner? Probably nothing. I didn’t have a dinner plan and we were out shopping at 1:30 and realized we were hungry.

Our go-to dive bar downtown is owned by a Chicago native who imports all his food from back home.


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Italian Beef for me, Chicago dog for Mrs BV. Plus I get her hot peppers. Anyone who doesn’t want to see a half eaten sandwich should look away. I just wanted to show it wasn’t all sweet peppers. Beer and wine not pictured but they brew about 10 beers on the premises.

I do not eat Italian beef sandwiches, but I've lived in Chicago long enough to know that that sandwich looks very dry. It should be dipped!

It really wasn't dry but I had a styrofoam cup of au jus. Not pictured.