alinea.

In the ongoing celebration of my mom's "big" birthday, the four of us went to Alinea last week. For those of you who don't know, Alinea is only one of two restaurants to receive a 3-star rating from the Michelin Guide and was voted 6th best restaurant in the world by Restaurant Magazine this year. Currently, it is a 20-course affair (it took us approximately 4.5 hours for the entire meal), and each course is artistic, inventive, interactive and playful. 

Since each course is so unusual and intricate, I brought a notebook (and of course, a camera), to document the full meal. My notes are below, and then you can see some pictures by clicking on the link to my Picasa album (at the bottom). I tried to detail each ingredient, what we really enjoyed and the smells/sounds/tastes of each dish.Enjoy! 

* Aperitif: Champagne, Apple liquor, potable bitters

1.    Under the pumpkin table display, savory pumpkin cake on a metal guitar pick.

·         Curry

·         Coconut

·         Crème fraîche

2.    Seaweed on wood plank with four bites: 

·         Garlic leaf in a shallot

·         Snapper on a corn husk

·         Unagi on cabbage leaf (soy sauce – this one we liked best)

·         Cod on a leek

3.    Lightly Fried Yuba (aka “Witch Finger”), byproduct of tofu

·         Avocado

·         Green onions

·         Toasted sesame seeds

·         Miso emulsion

·         [Crunchy, yummy]

4.    Bowl of Fish Stuff

·         Trout

·         Bourbon maple syrup jelly balls

·         Rice with smoked gel

·         [Sweet, fishy, crunchy, earthy]

5.    Toasted Oak Leaves with Lightly Fried Cheese

·         Cheese

·         Shallots

·         Apple

·         [Aromatic, Autumnal]

6.    Family Style Course

·         Whole sea bream with mint pesto

·         Caponata with vegetables and chocolate

·         Crunchy crackers

* Brought out four red cabbage leaves on sticks. Set them on our table but we didn’t eat them yet. Looked like flags.

7.    Hands-Free Bite (on an antennae)

·         Papaya

·         Dehydrated orange

·         Raw fennel

·         Cucumber

·         [Soft, crunchy, gummy]

8.    Big Pillow with Mushrooms

·         Pillow with pine aroma

·         Plate had mushrooms, thyme foam, pine cream

·         [Earthy, foresty]

9.    Little Wax Soup Bowl (pin through bowl; pull pin to dump stuff into soup)

·         Truffle

·         Parmesan

·         Potato

·         Chive

·         [Hot and cold, time sensitive]

10.  Interactive Red Cabbage Wrap (wood with glass plate on top; take glass plate off; construct metal stand from two pieces that interlock)

·         Tomato

·         Potato

·         Bell Pepper

·         Onion

·         Mustard

·         Paprika potato

·         Hamachi with huckleberry

11.  Fork bite (handed us round bottom bowl with fork balancing; eat fork first, then sip soup)

·         Fork: eggplant and sea bass

·         Soup: sweet vidalia onion soup and pepper foam

*Sprayed black tea oil on our table

12.  Miro Painting (9 forks and spoons each laid out on the table in front of us; after each bite, deposit utensil into metal vase with lavender salt)

·         Lavender noodle

·         Beet jello

·         Olive

·         Pickled cherries

·         Fig

·         Apple

·         Fish

·         Olive oil

13.  Liquid black truffle ravioli (on spoon in bottomless bowl)

·         One bite

·         Explosion!

14.  Yuzu Snow (palate cleanser)

·         Metal cone

·         Frozen with liquid nitrogen

15.  Cubist fruit and cheese plate

·         Cheese with nuts

·         Flat crunchy paper

·         Applesauce

16.  Test tube (“It could get messy”)

·         Lemongrass gelatin

·         Cucumber

*Mom got chocolate cake ball with cream for her birthday

17.  Silicon table cloth

·         4 little bowls of stuff: lingonberry syrup, butternut squash syrup, goose island stout beer syrup, citrus marigold flowers

·         Brought out two brown bowls which were put in the middle of the table and two cups of dry ice

·         Grant Aschatz and helper come out!

·         Start decorating table with 3 syrups and flowers

·         Then then smash the brown bowls on the table – dark chocolate piñatas, with cotton candy, French toast pieces, lingonberry taffy, pumpkin pie filling… 

Alinea

who let the dogs out?

This post is dedicated to C, who greeted me this morning with: "Are you going to blog about something today so I can read it?" You’re welcome, lady!

 As you may have guessed it, this one is about dogs. First off – our dog, Mimi. Do you see this picture? That’s Mimi. Now I ask you – does this look like a vicious dog? If you answered yes, you’re wrong. The correct answer is obviously no. All this dog does is sleep approximately 20 hours a day. She is almost a cat. (Seriously – she loves drinking milk from a bowl.) She enjoys napping in the sun and on heating pads. The only remotely dog-like thing she does is chase squirrels and she is good at playing fetch with a tennis ball. I only know two people in this world who don’t like Mimi and one is a child and the other is an idiot.

Said idiot brings me to the nub and thrust of our story. Last week, a certain Human who shall remain nameless (cough – dad – cough) took Mimi on a walk, as per usual. For those who don’t know, Mimi’s worst enemy is the mailman (yes, this is a dog cliché). Whenever the mail comes, she FREAKS OUT for at least a half hour. I think she feels like the mail is an intruder and she has to protect us. Clearly, the mailman is enemy #1, since he delivers this intrusion. So whenever she sees the Mailman during a walk, she barks and barks and barks like a crazy person (dog). On this walk, the Human was unfortunately not paying attention and this time, Mimi was able to get close enough to the Mailman to “bite” him. I say “bite” because, hello – this dog weighs like 1 pound and her mouth is the size of a dime (do I need to refer you back to the picture above ?).

Anyhow, the Mailman alerted a member of the Highland Park Police Department, and a police officer showed up at our door about five minutes later. My mom was able to get him to go away by saying my dad was unavailable at the moment, and the police officer said my dad had to call him back later to discuss the incident. At the end of the day, we had to get Mimi tested for rabies and she is not allowed to be walked off our property for 10 days. We will be fined if Animal Control does not hear back from our vet regarding the results of the rabies test. Also, the ticket we were issued indicates that Mimi is an “attacking and biting dog”. She is now an outlaw from justice. (Maybe that will be her Halloween costume…? Miniature striped jumpsuit and small handcuffs?) (Oh no - after further research, of course this actually exists. What is wrong with people?)

Hilariously, when I texted my mom today to ask how Mimi was doing, she wrote “Have taken her on secret walks. Don’t tell the Mailman! No Xmas prezzies for him. He’ll be sorry!!” My family is the best. 

Secondly, I’d like to alert you that it’s that time of year again – when crazy dog people dress up their dogs in unfortunate-yet-sometimes-hilarious-and-adorable Halloween costumes. I saw this gallery today of dogs in the annual Tompkins Square Park Dog Parade. I think my favorite is the Pan Am Stewardess dog. What’s yours?

Happy Doglloween (and keep your doggies away from our Mailman)! 

"We have a lot of angry customers out there. This puts us at threat level midnight." --Michael Scott

When do you complain about customer service? It's a question I've wrestled with a lot recently, to varying results. As a consultant, I attempt to give my clients the highest level of service and attention. Not only because that's what I would want as a client, but also because I know I am "representing my firm" (how many of us have heard that speech from a school or camp?).

Recently I had a great customer service experience. Unlike New York, make-your-own-salad places are few and far between in Chicago. I have found one place - Freshii - that I now frequent often. A few weeks ago, I unfortunately noticed a piece of bacon in my salad. I was able to avoid it, but was still pretty grossed out and thought I may have to abandon my new-found salad place. That afternoon, I decided to send in a complaint on their webform, just to see what would happen. One day later, I received an email from the President of the company, genuinely apologizing for the mistake. Granted, they are a pretty small company, and I realize not all restaurants would provide the same response, but I truly appreciated the overwhelmingly nice note. In addition to an apology, he gave me two free meals - for me and a friend - anything on their menu. I wrote him back thanking him, particularly for the fantastic customer service. I'm happy that I can continue to enjoy my salads, but I also really appreciate and admire their customer service.

After work yesterday I ran a few cool shopping errands (eyeliner, socks, underwear...really

exciting stuff). The last errand was Victoria Secret. Since I started shopping at VS a few years ago, I have been pleasantly surprised at their fantastic customer service in stores. They are quick to ask if they can help, point you in the right direction or explain a new line. They gladly measure and remeasure you, and will personally walk you around the store to find items in your size. That's what I call above and beyond, and it's one of the main reasons I continue to return.

Last night I had two unfortunate experiences. First, I asked a sales associate for help finding an item. I had the name of the product (it's not like I tried to just describe it to her) and she pointed me to a completely different product and basically ran away. After finding the item I wanted about 10 minutes later following another search on my own, I was ready to check out. This is where the real fun began. Not only were the line(s) completely disorganized (one of my major pet peeves), there was a group of tourist (Denmark?) who had a very complicated order of sizes, items and which way they wanted this convoluted mess organized and wrapped. The woman directly in front of me must have been paying with pennies because she spent at least 15 minutes checking out for what looked like one bra. By the time I actually got up to pay, I received no apology, no comment whatsoever, despite the 15 minutes I had just spent glaring and rolling my eyes at the sales associates. It was at this point that I debated saying something to the floor manager. When there are additional associates available, I expect someone to see that I am trying to buy three small items, and lead me to another register to pay and get the heck out of there. But that didn't happen. In the end, I decided to not say anything because those tourists seemed really obnoxious and demanding and I felt bad for the girls who had to deal with that cluster. But as I walked away, I couldn't help feeling mad for having my time wasted and upset that their usual level of customer service had taken such a hit.

What would you guys have done? Complain? Or just walk away? Would you have purchased the items? And does anyone ever actually send back soup?

im so excited!

...and I just can't hide it! Rebloga is BACK, kids! Join me (whether it's again, or for the very first time) as I share my exciting experiences living in Chicago (including nail polish recommendations, restaurant reviews, travel experiences, technology wants and clothing desires) and working as a consultant.

I tweet a lot, so be sure to follow me @becca_lynnn to keep up with all hijinx and adventures. Don't forget to send comments (I LOVE comments), and check the little awesome/lame boxes under each post, so I can keep the awesome posts coming, and the lame posts to a minimum. Also, I've added a new sidebar that lists my favorite places on the internet. When you have gotten your fill of Rebloga, here are some other sites to help you run out the clock at work. See you on the interwebs!

my kind of town.

some wintry millennium park pictures...


also, i found the UGLIEST bridal party ever! (at least i think it's a bridal party. does anyone wear purple and teal to their own wedding?) what bride makes their entire bridal party stand outside in 20 degree weather to take pictures?

im only allowed upstairs.

you may have seen some pretty great costumes this weekend. we saw everything from 3 blind (and slutty) mice (seemed like a ploy to get boys to carry them across the street), michael cera's character in juno, and a gang of karate guys, to Russell (the Wilderness Explorer kid in Up) and some Ghostbusters.

but. does this lovely lady look familiar?

we saw a FANTASTIC Dooneese costume after dinner on Saturday (S.P. the blue crayon with Dooneese): Can anyone top that costume sighting?? Leave a comment if you can...

that's really not the trend in vampires right now.

dearest E: here is a post JUST FOR YOU. (Ok, everyone else can read it too.)

so, the big day is almost upon us! that's right, it's halloween. now, i am not too big on halloween. as a kid, i was pretty much scared of my own shadow, and running around at NIGHT in the DARK was not an interest of mine. the costumes were scary and it was always too cold (thanks, chicago). so after a couple years of trick-or-treating as a kid, halloween got the kibosh, and i've ignored it mostly ever since.

for those of you who know me, you'll understand why i was never interested in the adult version of halloween either. i'm not big on getting really really drunk and wandering around the city in slutty costumes. hence, the shunning continued.

but, this year i am going to take a chance and go out for halloween. i have a built in costume: the insane, black and gold lamé 80's prom dress that i wore for purim junior year of college. i'll crimp my hair and there you go - instant costume.

the issue now is, as M pointed out, i'm not really "going as" anything. is "80's prom girl" an acceptable costume to go as? at this point, i'm not going to rethink the whole thing. i don't have the stamina or the imagination to whip up some other awesome costume now. but (and here's where you come in) if i had to do it all over again, what should i have gone as? if this year goes well, i can use your suggestion next year. or even sooner for purim! so, send in your suggestions now, and also let me know what you're going to be this year!

happy trick-or-treating... stay away from any vampires that look like Creed...

(a big thanks to A for pulling some pics for me! xoxo)

rebloga is back!

guess what folks... REBLOGA IS BACK! i was talking to a coworker today and he was shocked to hear that i "used to write a blog."

the "used to" part got me sad, and i looked back at the great days of rebloga. sadly, it was 95% Lost, and things have been silent since then.

so - for those of you who were patiently waiting in the wings for rebloga to come back (and to those of you who i force to read this blog), welcome back (and thank you!). stay tuned for my chicago adventures, witty comments and tv commentary.

thanks for reading. xoxo

vomit-fest.

thank you to tlc for inundating me with commercials about the time traveler's wife movie, coming out this friday! even though i previously said i was "excited" for this movie to come out, that was only because it's one of my all time favorite books of all time. unfortunately, the trailer makes me want to stab my eyes out, and makes me so sad for its suckiness. here it is, but don't say i didn't warn you...




if you see it, let me know what you think (especially if you read/enjoyed the book).

that being said - i will remind you all that i will be away for the next 2-ish weeks. i will be sure to look out for goo blobs, and do bucko updates when i return!

love and love it.

only wish i had ever thought of this project. but as the deb said, it's a good opportunity to clean out my closet (which it has needed for approximately 10+ years.)

maybe my parents want to move...

...to a different house in Highland Park? if so, they should check this one out.

a-woo-hoo!

yea my shul! just got an email with this picture of the fire truck that we donated. i especially love the super-bored looking israeli firefighter...

chicago recap.

#1 - Lost.
If you haven't read the ew.com recap yet, you really need to. The past few episodes have been particularly confusing, with all the time travel and "when are they now" type questions. The Doc did a good job this week of explaining the episode and all of the important time changes. He also has some particularly good insights into the characters. (Which reminds me - wtf is going on with Sun?! I love her, but who is she crossing/doublecrossing?! Where the hell is Ji Yeon? Why did she show Kate a pic of baby Ji Yeon, when she really should be about as old as Aaron??) (Also, if you haven't read The Little Prince, you really should. Not only because it shares a title with the most recent Lost episode and has many similar ideas and themes, but it is just a fantastic little book.)

#2 - What Recession?
Word to the wise - if you have the means to keep shopping during these lametastic economic times, get in your deals now while they are running rampant! M and I stayed at a fancy fancy downtown hotel in Chicago this weekend, and not only did they fall all over us to be nice and accommodating, they gave us money up the wazoo in spa, food and parking credit. At Nordstroms - same thing. At Banana Republic - same thing (ended up getting 25% off EVERYTHING I bought in one day of NEW stuff). N wanted a new down coat. She went to Macy's and found one that was already half off, marked down from like $250. Then, it was some American Heart Association day, and since she happened to be wearing red, she got another 10% off. Check out what deals are to be had, because they are out there, my friends.

#3 - Airport Weirdness.
I must have traveled on odd days this week, where the gods of travel were all napping (or out shopping). On Wednesday on my way to Chicago, I got through security in about 3 seconds. Literally. It was like the TSA agents came out that day to solely get me through security. There was NO one else there. Also, my plane got in 35 minutes early. When does that ever hapen?!
Today on the way to LGA, I was getting coffee at O'Hare and also on the phone with M. When I got the coffee, I walked over to the bar to sugar it up -

Me: Hang on a sec, Ma, I need to put the phone down to put sugar in my coffee.
Dude at Starbucks bar next to me: (Chuckle)
Me: Oh, that's ok. My mom is at a Starbucks drive through right now, so she understands.
Dude: Yea, I have that conversation with my dad just about every day. "Dad, stop talking! I need to fix my coffee!"

So, apparently we are not the only people who are so insane about coffee/Starbucks. Good news.

#4 - Lost, again.
As I've been writing this, E, goddess of Lost, has posted her The Little Price recap. I haven't read it yet, but I'm sure it's delightful and insightful. Let me know what you think.

#5 - Le Office.
One important thing about last week's episode that I doubt anyone noticed aside from me. When Andy is trying to get advice about how to woo the hot new client lady, he turns to Creed. (Big mistake, as far as I can tell. I doubt I'd rely on Creed for anything, much less relationship advice.) Creed suggests just trying to go in for a kiss, as a way to get the girl. He mentions that this is what he did to woo Squeaky Fromme. For all those who are not obsessed with cults (i.e. everyone besides me), Squeaky Fromme was one of the main chicks in the Manson Family (!!!). While she was never charged for any of the Manson murders, she was later charged and convicted of an assassintaion attempt on President Ford. She is currently serving a life sentence for this crime. Whatever conclusions you want to draw regarding Creed potentially being involved with the Manson Family (or at least its outer circle), go for it.

obama connection alert.

i had heard rumors about this in my family, but today i found confirmation of my family's connection to obama!

so, my grandpa started a meatpacking company in 1939 - city foods. sorry kids, it's not kosher. he sells his brand of brisket and corned beef - bea's best, named after my grandma - to, among other places, manny's deli in chicago. again, i wouldn't really know about it due to the non-kosher factor, but apparently it's a big deal in chicago. and the word on the street is that obama loves to get corned beef sandwiches from them! hoorah for bea's best! pretty cool that the president loves my family's corned beef.