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Sorry. The end of this week has gotten away from me. We had a snow day, followed by my sick day, followed by a day where I had forgotten all my files at home I was working on (during the snow day) at HOME so left work and came back to Wicker Park.

Last night, Doug's parents met my parents for the first time at Sepia, and our engagement party is tonight. I have a bunch of things to share on my blog including those and some very healthy pumpkin cookies and my new favorite seasoning for tilapia. It's all coming soon I promise. For now I have to go to Dailey Method and clean the house. Until my next post, have a GREAT weekend!

Mish

Cafe 28

Cafe 28 is 28 minutes from my house. Straight down Damen on the 50 bus. Plus, I sprinted down Irving Park Road when I got off the bus that was 10 minutes late, while wearing my new jeggings and boots. The boots are comfortable enough to run, by the way. That was a nice pleasant surprise--that my running places was not held back by my new shoes (unlike my patent leather pumps that tore my feet to pulp the first time I wore them to Takashi).

We went to Cafe 28 on Friday night. It was a good find. Super cozy, good service, and one of those places that you know that your hair will basically smell like Cuban pork sauce after you leave (in a good way). Café 28 is a family-owned restaurant established in 1995. Their restaurant specializes in Cuban and Mexican style with an eclectic Latin twist. An interesting combination that you certainly don't seem to see in that neck of the woods on Irving Park road. When we arrived, the place was bustling. Without a reservation, we sat at the bar for 8 minutes and then were seated. I love places that can do that, where you aren't screwed if you don't have a reservation already (aheeeem, Girl and the Goat, I'm looking at you!).

We had ceviche, baked goat cheese, then the table ordered duck and pork. I tasted the duck, which was actually pretty delicious. The ceviche wasn't anything special, but I feel like I'm pretty judgmental of my ceviche, so I'll let that one slide. It just seemed a tad "ketchup-ish" to me. Everything else was good including a tasty side dish of Sweet Potatoes that I ordered. Rich flavors, large portions, and good sauces. Plus, as expected, the Malbec was TASTY as hell. I love tasty wine. I drank the crap out of that. By the way, this venue is also BYOB but there is a corking fee of $10.00 per bottle. I think that's kind of a rip off personally, and read that on the site prior to vising sans my own wine, because the bottles there aren't too expensive (and it ends up not saving much money unless you have a specific bottle of wine you'd like to drink, I'd just recommend going with something they have on their menu). I recommend this place! Do it! Plus it's by a ton of public transportation including the Brown Line.

Here are the specials of this week from the Cafe 28 Website:

Starter: Fried Artichoke hearts with a Cilantro aioli

Salad : Fennel, Cabbage, Cranberry, Romaine and walnuts.

Soup: Fabada ( a classic Spanish white bean soup)

Entree: Risotto style Paella

Calf Acceptance

I am so excited and I just can't hide it! I just bought jeggings and boots and I think I like it! So what if I'm bursting in early 90's music. I just bought my first pair of boots that covered my calves. I'm not kidding. I guess that years of running, and modern & jazz dancing equals I am not comfortable with the size of my calves! Seriously after years of being ashamed that none of the tall skinny boots fit me, I finally found a pair I liked! No nothing crazy extravagant nor crazy expensive, but I landed on Steve Madden boots (photo above). I couldn't just stop there, of course I had to purchase the pants I was always fearing as well. I did a fist pump dance in the dressing room of Urban Outfitters when I could actually slip on these pants and not look like a walking quad muscle. Booooya! I was so happy with my purchase that I ended up texting a few friends, and also...wait for it...apparently my first boyfriend as well. I got a response back from from him about 5 minutes later "hey Mish, happy new year, thanks for the text about the boots, not sure what that was about but seems like you are in style these days!" Oh dear. Nice work Mish. I felt like Ron Burgundy "I just want to shout it from the roof top!" Whatever makes you happy! For me apparently it's wearing boots like normal people.

Feeling Crabby

I made crab cakes for the first time! Woo! They were absolutely delicious, and actually whole grain, not greasy, and low in fat. Crab cakes and football. That's what Maryland DOES! Sorry I know that was a lame Wedding Crashers quote. I had to go for it.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons fat free Greek yogurt
1/4 cup green onions chopped up into small pieces
1/4 teaspoon black pepper 2 large egg whites salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup wheat germ (just call me Cindy Goldstein the dietitian that I grew up with, I know) 1 pound lump crab meat (I got mine from Costco, and it rocked. One pound is about one can of them.)

Place bread in food processor; process until coarse crumbs. It should be about 1 cup roughly if you eye ball it, I added in wheat germ to make about 1 1/2 cups total. Combine breadcrumbs with the next ingredients (all of them). Keep pulsing away. If it's looking too dry or too damp, react accordingly by adding in more breadcrumbs or more Greek Yogurt. Divide crab mixture into 6 equal portions, shaping each into a 1-inch-thick patty. Wrap these patties in tin foil. They need to sit in the fridge for at least 1 hour before they go onto the frying pan. That's imperative or else they will most likely fall apart.

Heat 1 1/2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. The original recipe said to brown them on the sauce pan first and then bake them. I think that's not necessary, and Doug and I just got finished eating them from the skillet and they tasted wonderful. They take a little longer than I'd thought to cook. Probably between 12 and 14 minutes per each 2 or 3 I had on the pan. Be patient with them so that the top gets crusty.

For Breakfast: I also added crab into an egg dish with cheese and scallions. It came out pretty nice. I'm also thinking Doug will make a leftover crab cake with egg whites tomorrow morning. I'll survey and see how it went!

Girl and the Goat Part 2

We went back to G & G with two friends of ours. They are a hilarious couple. We ordered similar items to the first time we visited this spot including the browned cauliflower dish, the sweet potato blue cheese gratin, and the chickpea fritters along with the sausage stuffed calamari. This place rocks. It's always full, it's always bustling (which makes me feel like I want to stay there for prolonged amounts of time) and the menu is so versatile, that it's nearly impossible not to find at least 3 dishes you could eat the crap out of regardless of the audience you are with. The service is always excellent (minus the fact that our waitress was crazy LOUD and talked so much that we were laughing every time she came over because it stressed me out a bit...I'm going to hell I know--in 2011 I need to work on my patience). I like lighter dishes and less red meat. Doug wanted to try the pig face with the fried egg on top (no it didn't look like a pig face) and thoroughly enjoyed it. {Needless to say, the entire time we ate, we kept repeating "IN THE FACE" Eddie Murphy style from Coming to America, one of the greater films of all time, obviously.}

Make a reservation ASAP. Even if it's 3 months in advance like those that I've made. Next reservation will probably be the front table which is an extension of the bar...for my chlorate party weekend extravaganza! Woo!