New Flavors!

 

Christmas has come and gone; we had ample opportunity to spend quality time with our loved family and friends!  Our memories are what we will take in to this New Year.  One generous gift, thanks mama Diane and Mike, was an assortment of olive oils and balsamic vinegar from the Olive Gallery in Yorkville, Illinois.  These flavorful treats will provide us with ample opportunities to be more creative with our recipes.  So far we have tasted them in their original state, with fresh crusty bread of course, and they are all divine!  Here's what we have:


     Jalapeno White BalsamicVinegar

     Cilantro and Roasted Onion Olive Oil ( used in our Roasted Tomato and Black Bean soup recipe!)

     Blood Orange Olive Oil

     Meyer Lemon Olive Oil

     Dark Chocolate Balsamic Vinegar

     Oregano White Balsamic Vinegar

We'll have more recipes using the others... stay tuned!

Pilsen Farmer's Market

Each weekend from June through the end of October, we look forward to Sunday mornings browsing the local produce and products at our Pilsen Farmer's Market. During this time, Basil, cucumbers, peppers, squash, sweet corn, swiss chard, blueberries, watermelon, tomatoes, and honey are all in season. Honey is brought to the market from 1 block away, where you will find a full functioning beehive on top of Simone's, our local restaurant and bar. Another one is called the Carpenter Street Beeyard also in Pilsen- who knew we had so many? The Chicago Botanic Garden vendor seems by far, to be our favorite spot. All the produce is grown in local greenhouses near Pilsen, so each vegetable is picked VERY fresh and brought to the market that day. We had a lot of fun exploring the seasonal picks; each inspiring new recipe creations that we will be enjoying and sharing this week. Stay posted.

Bob's Corn

Every year for the past 18 years, Amber's family has celebrated TEVA fest ( Terry and Eva's wedding anniversary Pig Roast, camp out fest!) Bob's corn is the highlight of the meal, ok the pig roast is amazing too, but there's something special about the freshest corn on the cob that you could ever imagine... perfect crisp bite, savory sweetness, grilled in it's husk to perfection and dipped in real butter to make it the most incredible food you have ever eaten... you can't duplicate it- so sorry, but this post is just to brag.