Calibur burger carryout:
double cheeseburger
cheeseburger
fries
cheese fries
chocolate milkshake

Cooked at home:
grilled cheese & avocado (too big!)

cookie assortment - we received a new box by mail today, and I still have my assortment from my Momz group’s cookie exchange.

Your house is like a buffet on a cruise ship. You got cheeseburgers AND made grilled cheese? And cheese fries?

my family wanted Calibur carryout and we were nearby for after-school sports.

but I have zero desire to buy carryout so I cooked my own grilled cheese, especially since I learned about grilled cheese and avocado at Calibur in Winter when we would eat there post-basketball... pre-shutdown of course. Actually I was too full to finish my grilled cheese. I�m going to refrigerate it and maybe I�ll make it into an omelette for Wednesday luncheon.

Today we received cookies by mail from friends, so I�m testing them out. Mega yum. Freezing extras and I can dole them out as needed. Our child made snickerdoodles for their classmate (emphasis on mate! Omg!!) so we will also have some extra snickerdoodles.

I so have to get cream and buttermilk for upcoming baking.

Roasted beets with yogurt and preserved lemon served over lentils from Ottolenghi's Simple.

Last night we made red curry lentils with sweet potatoes and spinach. It was one of the New York Times top recipes for 2020, and I highly recommend it! Do not omit the toasted coconut.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/...es-and-spinach

Beef Wellington.

Not for tonight, but two weeks from today... for five years now we've dined at Bavette's (Chicago) on Dec. 30. The first time was the night of our engagement, and since neither of us are big fans of NYE, we've kept up the tradition. This year dinner at Bavette's is not to be, but they're offering takeout, so we just ordered a Dec. 30 dinner. Typically we get the seafood tower, which isn't currently being offered, but we'll make do with a la carte cold shellfish and a bunch of our other faves. (And for anyone who's familiar with Bavette's, we'll recreate the ambiance by dimming all of the lights and eating by candle. I always joke that Brendan Sodikoff has never met a lightbulb he likes.)

I hope you're not disappointed. We've ordered takeout from our favorite place in Scottsdale and after two times we decided no mas. Just kind of blah.

I have tamales in the steamer....pork and also green chilies with cheese. What an absolute pain they were to make this year---corn husks were awful to work with. I am sure they will taste great though.
ETA: They are delicious!!

Me too! That said, most of the things we ordered should travel pretty well. I think Chicago's upscale places -- the ones that never offered takeout before the pandemic -- have generally done a good job figuring out how to create a great takeout experience and package things to travel. We have had one fine dining takeout meal that was a bit of a disappointment, but that's primarily because a meal we got from them earlier in the year was spectacular and anything would pale in comparison.

Nyt sheet pan Lemony chicken with Brussels sprouts - mega big hit
Trader Joe�s latkes with applesauce and sour cream
leftover reheated mashed potatoes

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/...cipe-iOS-share

looks wonderful .

We make tamales too, about once a year, 100% from scratch. About 50-60, and freeze most of them. Incredibly labor intensive. Better part of 2 days. Worth every minute.

aww thanks. It was not difficult and super delicious. Just wish I had used even more Brussels sprouts.

We've seen a range of quality, but our experience has been that the upscale places have generally done a good job. I think you'll be fine.
Too bad about the seafood tower though. Given the lack of upscale restaurants in the suburbs for our first NYE out here, we have talked about perhaps creating our own seafood tower at home to celebrate. We'll see.

Oddly, the place we've found that has the highest quality, nearly "in the restaurant" quality, is a Greek place near us. I may have mentioned it before. Demetri's, in Deerfield. It's a nice steak and seafood, but not upscale, kind of Greek restaurant. We've ordered takeout from there most often simply because the food seems to travel so well compared to others we've tried.