Bottom came out just with some small char spots, but no big areas that were burned and bitter, just a bit of char flavor. My partner does the dough as a sourdough and did not adjust the recipe for the new oven aside from popping more of the bubbles by rolling out the dough a bit harder after the first pizza was a bit too bubbly. This batch was 718 g King Arthur bread flour, 482 g water, 14 g salt, 14 olive oil, 5 g garlic powder, and 143 g sourdough starter (fed thrice before making the dough) for a total of 8 pizzas.

If you are giving out grams, y'all are pretty serious with dough. Thanks.

This is the Weigh :D

We made it to the Fresh Farms in Niles (on Touhy) today! But not before going to the Devon one first. We got in the Devon location, which is tiny, and were looking high and low for the seafood counter....which doesn't exist. Fortunately we had nothing pressing to do, so we jumped back in the car to go to the one in Niles, and wow! Thanks for the recommendation. We only hit about half of the aisles but bought a ton of stuff, including mussels (and lemongrass) for red curry mussels for dinner tonight. And a few breads, one of which will be great for the broth.

Ordered a dinner salad with pistachio vinaigrette and a charcuterie board from a local pizza place. Enjoying it at home with the Muga Rioja my FT Secret Santa sent me. A nice way to relax after a long work week during tax season.

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Organic kielbasa
cheese fondue (fribourg vacheron & gruyere) with ciabatta, Apple, and Cornichons
dessert chocolate fondue (72%) with broiled marshmallows, bananas, Rice Krispie treats, baklava, strawberries, pineapple, blood orange, and apples

Phew....glad you went to Niles, I would have looked like an idiot if you hadn't! I had no idea the Devon location didn't have seafood.
Anyway, glad you liked it. I was floored when I first walked into one just a few years ago. And for what it's worth, we usually only hit about half the aisles, skipping most of the middle aisles that have canned and dry goods you can get anywhere. You can pretty much walk around the perimeter from the produce section to the bakery and totally lose an hour of your day -- it happens to me just in the area with the area with the cheese, sausages, and smoked fish :).

I suspect it's as far for you to get there as it is for us from Northbrook. But it's unquestionably our go to place for special occasions, and worth the trip and the large crowds.

That sounds deluxe, especially the fondue with Vacheron.

thank you!
vacheron is like $28/lb. I haven’t ever bought cheese at this price point unless it’s the fancy one for a party presentation.
I don’t think our beloved fondue restaurant in Carmel CA uses this vacheron stuff; I’m sure it’s Sysco fondue cheese or Sysco blend of raclette / emmenthaler / Kraft “Swiss” cheeses. I’m sadly convinced that I’m now making fondue better than that beloved restaurant, which is my favorite restaurant in Carmel for the mix of cuisine / service; we have had New Year’s Eve supper there for 6-8 years except 2020. Their dessert fondue doesn’t have broiled (toasted) marshmallow, just regular marshmallow. And no baklava as a dipper.
Somehow the fondue pots only needed 2 hours of soaking and not an overnight soak like last weekend.

I'd estimate that the Devon location is about the size of a Trader Joe's, but with twice as many (narrow) aisles. And the meat section was literally half a cooler with some packaged chicken in it. (Wouldn't surprise me given the neighborhood if the communities have their go-to kosher/halal butchers.)

We basically did what you suggest and walked around the perimeter, though only explored about half of the produce section. And I could have spent more time by the pastries :) It's about a 20 minute drive for us, but not unusual for us to be within 10 minutes of there with some regularity (Evanston Home Depot, heading to the expressway, etc.) so I could see us shopping there with some regularity. One thing I didn't notice -- is there a liquor section? I feel as if I saw some booze scattered throughout, but didn't notice if they had a section. (Not a dealbreaker, since we are so close to the Evanston Binny's, but really just curious.)

Nice! Yes, sometimes it seems like it’s easier to source and apply high quality ingredients at home. Sysco has really set a low bar for ingredients for restaurants. We pretty much no longer go out for steaks now that we’ve found Costco to be a high quality vendor for bulk steaks and tuned up our sous vide process for steaks. Even with vacuum sealing, freezing, and defrosting, the steaks at home beat out anything I’ve had in a restaurant. Though we do appreciate that eating out means less clean up.

Also, that baklava sounds like a real treat! If you’re ever in the Denver/Aurora area, there’s a great shop for takeout baklava and other similar pastries that’s amazingly affordable and very nice quality: Shahrazad Bakery.

That's a great question, I know I've seen some beer near the bakery area, but there may not be liquor or wine there. We've never looked - we are literally a 3 minute drive from the Highland Park Binny's, so we usually just stock up there. Also, I won't go into details but we reluctantly accepted a large credit from a winery in lieu of a down payment we had made before COVID, which we've only begun to dip into, so well-stocked in the wine department. :)

Boring dinner tonight
Dover Sole with lemon & butter
orzo with spinach
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Interesting you mention this... I love Swiss cheese and have tried dozens of them over the years, including many expensive imported ones. Somewhat surprisingly, Kraft is near the top for me. I certainly don't seek out any of their other cheeses, but will almost always pick the Kraft "extra thin" Swiss slices. Good hot or cold.

grilled marinated chicken thighs
Mashed potatoes
chicken gravy
grilled kielbasa

as it’s now over a year... I always loved Max’s and mizrahi’s by the Binny’s.

Haven't been to either. Anything you would you recommend?

Max’s is like Max & Benny’s but their tongue sandwich is better. They have better sandwiches. I’ve gone to Max’s since 2005.

mizrahis is ace Israeli cuisine - their wraps are great. The mabucha is a red pepper purée and it’s very spicy, in a good way. So I like to get a wrap with a side of Mabucha and rice. Their French fries are good if you don’t want rice. Their hummus and baba ganoush and pita are really really great - it’s not like Sabra (supermarket) or like Roti (Mediterranean chain). I only started going to mizrahis around 2016. I used to over order because I wanted the above plus Israeli salad.

I love a specific recommendation, thank you! When we were in the city, we had a number of good Middle Eastern restaurants, including an Egyptian place that we really liked. Haven't found anything as good in the north suburbs so I'm looking forward to trying Mizrahis.

Kimchi soup with silken tofu and mushrooms. Simple, but came together in less than 30 minutes on a workday night, so a win in my book.

king crab legs
mixed green salad
steak fries


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my highland park tops:
israeli - mizrahis
Mexican - migotes de Michoacán (Green Bay rd)
jewish casual - once upon a bagel (no tongue)
Jewish deli - tie for Max’s / max & bennys
mediterranean - phoenicia
service - country kitchen
american diner - country kitchen
sugar bakery - baker boys
celebrity - madame zuzus (smashing pumpkins) - now near OUAB in old E Street Denim
pizza - NY Slices
eggs - Walker Bros
hot dogs - Michael’s red hots
burgers - n/a (I don’t eat them in HP)
chinese - n/a (I don’t eat them in HP)
sushi - sushi kushi 2

Just a couple days of grilling season until it drops back to normal Chicago March weather. It's still dark at 6 pm here which is making it a little trickier than summer grilling too.
Last night, chicken fajitas on the grill. Tequila and diet Sprite while I cooked. Midwestern Margarita. I may have to trademark that.
Tonight, grilled halibut and vegetables. Probably pass on the cocktail tonight.

I made an Italian dish: Pasta alla Norma. An old friend showed me the receipt his granma gave to him...wow! Can't describe it properly. Please if you like Italian coucine...try it!

The secret souce:
- dry Italian pasta (of course)
- 2 small aubergines
- tomato sauce
- 80g dry salty ricotta
- olive oil
- salt
- basil

Process: cut the aubergines in little cubes, fry them. Add basil, then add tomato sauce and salt (30 min all). Boil the pasta, then add it to the aubergines, add other basil and mix everything. When ready scratch all the ricotta as final topping...Then put everything in the owen for 10 min (if you want you can add parmesan). Buon apetito and thank you for trying it

gorgeous. I love melanzana so much. Wow.

The final leftover edition.

Plus homemade cornbread muffins.

Grilled lamb chops...one of my.favorites
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Lamb birria, with accompaniments.


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Calibur cheeseburger & milkshake
bagel & lox
wild rice & white rice (they didn’t turn purple!! Sad!!)
bok choy sautéed in olive oil (thanks corky!!) with tofu, sautéed chicken won tons, and leftover steak

Tonight, final meal of our subscription series.On the menu: avec

• Gem Lettuce Salad with Roasted Shallot Vinaigrette and Marcona Almonds
• Chorizo Stuffed Dates with Bacon and Piquillo Pepper - Tomato Sauce
• Paella with Confit Chicken, Smoked Sausage, Artichokes and Lemon Aioli
• Lemon Meringue Tart

We've decided that, even if they continue the series, we won't participate. For the price, the meals were pretty good. But now that spring is near and restaurants here have re-opened, that's it for us. Got us through a couple months of winter lockdown!

That sounds like the best one yet---mmmm.
Do you have any input because of dislikes or allergies or is it a no changes situation .

Seriously, not necessary! ;)

That was our thought as well. We'll see how it turns out.
Good question on the allergies. We don't have any so I didn't notice. I would imagine they'd have to account for that though.

Client input would be a great way to get the client to continue with the subscription!
in sf one similar service lets people pre-order their entree / sides choices, based on the centralized pickup location. So the client clicks the location, sees the offerings over a 4-day period, and then chooses which entrees & sides they would like. Every day has 3-5 participating restaurants so it would be possible to get a Mexican main, Japanese appetizer, Korean sides, and Malaysian / Thai dessert (or switch around ethnic adjectives). All ala carte. The only reason why I’m not doing this is because I enjoy cooking even if the weekly emails bring much viewing joy.

The Lannisters always pay their debts.

It has been paid. Over and over. And then some. Consider it paid in full. Please.

Wild rice doesn't turn purple. Black rice, also known as forbidden rice, turns purple. Black rice is not the same as wild rice despite the fact that they both black in appearance.

thank you! The Trader Joe’s package says wild rice and looks black and now I know. I didn’t look at the instructions at the shop, which suggest overnight soaking or 50-60 minutes of stovetop cooking. Wow. So of course I still must finish this (luxury) rice, which is $4.99/bag (1-lb) which is very above the normal edlp for Trader Joe’s “canned” products, most of which are $1-3 at most :-)
I’ll seek out forbidden / black rice. I want the purple!!! I know that both Trader Joe’s and safeway (Albertsons) lack this product. One day I’ll finish my frozen dim sum and can return to 99 ranch.

I don't know what 99 ranch is, but I'm guessing it might be an Asian store. We typically buy black rice at whole foods, and it is not cheap, but I haven't looked at any of the Asian grocery stores, which is where we buy most of our rice in bulk, because we just don't need enough of it.

Yes, it is an Asian market. I know rice has a shelf life and I am thinking that wild or black rice might have a shorter one than white or basamati.

oops - yes, 99 ranch is an Asian grocer. I am now pondering if Korean restaurants really has black rice to make their purple rice because they’re not charging that much for a bowl of rice... hmm. Anyway maybe I should just go to the Korean supermarket by the golf course to buy rice. I never really looked at their rice when my child was at golf summer camp but I definitely bought other gems there last summer :-)

Wild rice is not rice; it's the seed of an aquatic grass native to North America. It is not related to rice and is only referred to as rice because it looks like rice (healthline).

mixed green salad
salami sandwich on toasted Costco Parmesan bagel and Trader Joe’s Bomba spread but without arugula (doh!!! I forgot!!)
assorted Specialty’s desserts (their blueberry streusel muffin has curry traces! Argh on this twisted contamination)...

this is blowing my mind. I feel so confused. I’m sober. How is wild rice not rice. Wow. And it was next to white rice and basmati rice in Trader Joe’s. I am confused.