We wanted to make something good tonight so we made Gatte Ki Subzi together ❤️
A Rajasthani dish made of besan dumplings in yogurt sauce, it is one of our favorite dishes.
We are thinking about doing something more elaborate like this every Thursday evening as a way to start the weekend a bit early (since we both have WFH on Fridays 😊).
Went for a nice walk today at the river walk next to the northern branch of the Chicago River. This was probably the first good summer-ish day we had so we wanted to get out early. So lucky that we live so close to such a beautiful spot. What is amazing is that this greenery is a relatively recent effort to restore the ecological health of the Chicago River.
And here is a video we took at the water’s edge at the River Walk along the North Branch of the Chicago River this morning. It was such a great way to start the morning!
In November while in upstate New York, we took a small afternoon trip to Saratoga Springs, a small, relatively affluent college town near where @seanbala grew up. We made two stops. One was Lyrical Ballad Bookstore. It was an amazing warren of shelves and lots of old books, maps, newspapers, and pictures. Funny thing is that even though he grew up here, this was Sean's first time going!
@seanbala@bookstodon Afterwards, we went to Uncommon Ground, a local coffee shop that makes its own bagels and roasts its own coffee. We got one of the best mochas we've had in a long time and a bagel with some schmear. Worth checking out if you ever visit!
@seanbala read a book while @dohappybelove did some painting. A good afternoon that we needed at that moment.
And for the rest of Thanksgiving, we made two dishes. The first is an old favorite of ours - our own variation on Irani Vegetarian Berry Pulao. It is mostly a recipe from Madhur Jaffrey's "Vegetarian India" with some root vegetables added. We did this last year and it was mind-blowingly good!
And for our second dish, we made Rastafarian Ital Vegetarian Stew. @seanbala found this recipe on BBC Travel and it is from Maya Feller's "Eating Our Roots." It looked like a beautiful and brilliant combination of vegetables and flavors with coconut milk.
Needed a break yesterday so we went "Begyle Brewing" near the Irving Park Brown Line. Chicago has a great craft beer scene and @seanbala is following the "Chicago Brew Pass" from "Choose Chicago" - this is our third one! We got some excellent Begyle Blonde Ale (according to @dohappybelove it has hints of rose and honey). The atmosphere was really relaxed and cozy.
We were feeling spontaneous and so went to "Orange Garden" for vegetable Lo Mein with Tofu. Founded in 1932, Orange Garden is Chicago's oldest Chinese restaurant. It has iconic neon signs, large portions, and an interior that has not changed much in 90 years. Excellent food at a great Chicago institution!
For @mitch_deadberg - we wanted to show you how we make South Indian Filter Coffee! This coffee (a 80:20 mixture of coffee / chicory) is made with a metal filter. This filter makes enough for about 2 times but can be found in bigger sizes. You put about 2-4 tbsp of coffee depending on how strong you want it. You place the metal plunger on top, pour the water and then let the decoction brew. It usually takes about a half hour.
@mitch_deadberg Once the decoction is finished, you can start to boil milk on the stove. You can use any milk - dairy is probably best but we use soy and oat.
While the milk is boiling, you pour some of the decoction into a metal cup. Traditionally, you have filter coffee in metal cups with a tumbler and a saucer. Once you add the decoction, you can also add sugar.
@mitch_deadberg Then the fun really begins! Once the milk is warm but just getting to a boil, you turn it off and you pour it into the tumbler. The higher the better - that way you get the froth!
@mitch_deadberg Once you get a nice foam, you can sit down and enjoy! This is our way of doing it but everyone has some variations.
Full Disclosure: We usually use soy or oat milk, the later which just doesn't foam up as well as regular milk. So the foam in the photo below was made with an electric foam maker. But still just as tasty! It foams up perfectly with dairy milk (and better with soy).
Ragamala! An all-night festival of Hindustani and Carnatic Indian classical music held at the Chicago Cultural Center. We only stayed for one session but we got to see Gaurav Mazumdar on sitar and Amit Kavthekar on tabla. They were students of the great Ravi Shankar and Zakir Husain respectively.