A special delivery

This past weekend some friends of ours were returning home from a trip to Chicago and since we live on their way home, they were nice enough to special deliver dinner for us (keep in mind that we live in Southeastern Michigan, about 4 hours from Chicago):

Xoco and Sprinkles Cupcakes

The sandwich drowning in a spicy tomato broth is called "Torta Ahogada" but I prefer to call it "Torta Oh-My-God-A." It has pork carnitas, pickled onions, and black beans, but the magic of the sandwich is dunking it that spicy tomato broth.

Now those are great friends -- not only ones who are willing to deliver you dinner and dessert from four hours away, but who understand the mantra "Will travel for food."They didn't think it was the least bit crazy to deliver us dinner from four hours away. In fact, they suggested it. I guess that's why we're going to San Francisco with them in June - so we can eat our way from one end of the city to the other!

Chicago is My Kinda (Foodie) Town

Michigan may be my home, but Chicago feels like my hometown. It is a city I will never tire of visiting. Last weekend my husband and I drove to Chicago with some friends simply to eat and enjoy the Christmas spirit.

I am not ashamed to admit we ate at a Rick Bayless restaurant THREE TIMES in 36 hours. His food is just so incredibly magical. I could eat it every day and never tire of it. Jeff Bezos needs to forget about using drones to deliver my Amazon package in 30 minutes or less. I want him to deliver me some Rick Bayless food to my doorstep.

Some of the dishes you order from his restaurants can possibly incite a "Meg Ryan-like reaction", which is why we chose to eat there more than once. 

Here's the breakdown of where we ate while we were in Chicago:
Friday: dinner at Xoco
Saturday: Brunch at Frontera, dinner at Xoco
Sunday: Breakfast at Lyfe Kitchen, then trips to Sprinkles Cupcakes and Jeni's Ice Creams for some edible souvenirs of our trip to Chicago

At Xoco, I ordered my usual favorite sandwich, the torta ahdogada (that my husband has now renamed the "torta OhMyGod-a") which is pork carnitas and black beans, topped with pickled onions, swimming in a spicy tomato broth. We also ordered the guacamole which tells you right there how good the food is at Xoco -- I don't even like guacamole and I devour this stuff. I'd lick the bowl if I weren't in public. It's just so perfectly creamy and garlicky.

Top: green and red salsa and guacamole, Bottom: torta ahdogada, aka "torta OhMyGod-a"

At our brunch at Frontera I ordered the gorditas, which sounds like something you'd order at Taco Bell and then regret later, but at Frontera, gorditas are rounds of corn masa swimming in a black bean sauce. Each masa round then has a different topping: chicken, chorizo, and the most pillowy scrambled eggs I've ever eaten in my life.

Gorditas at Frontera with chorizo, chicken, and scrambled eggs

Inside Frontera Grill

And then finally, we culminated our weekend of eating at a trip to Sprinkles Cupcakes and Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, which just recently opened a location in Chicago. I am praying for the day when they open a location in Michigan. Their ice cream is so heavenly, as you might have already seen me write about it before here on the blog. This time we brought pints home of cherry lambic sorbet, white chocolate peppermint, and brown butter almond brittle ice cream.

It was a fun, delicious weekend had by all. My only question now remains, when will I be going back?

The one where Katherine Applegate wins the Newbery medal: Memories from ALA

I remember that day back in late January when I had planned to watch the live stream of the ALA Youth Media Awards with my sixth graders, but as fate would have it, we had a snow day that day. I sat there in my home office in my pajamas, all by myself, waiting for the winners to be announced. When The One and Only Ivan was announced as the winner of the Newbery award, I screamed and then I wept. Before I even tweeted my congratulations to Katherine Applegate, I immediately tweeted my friend Colby Sharp, who had ardently championed the cause for Ivan to win the Newbery with great zeal. And not only did Ivan win the Newbery, but another favorite among Nerdy Book Club friends, This Is Not My Hat, won the Caldecott award. I couldn't believe that the books that so many Nerdy Book Club members loved and  had ebulliently recommended to others had won the two most coveted awards in children's literature.



When I found out that the Newbery Caldecott banquet was to be held in Chicago this year, a mere

four hour drive from my house in Michigan, I knew I, along with many of my other Nerdy Book Club friends, just had to be there.

My whirlwind trip began on Friday when I drove into Chicago just as the Blackhawks victory celebration was dying down, so luckily the traffic wasn't too horrible. My roommate, Alyson Beecher, and I decided to head over to McCormick Place to get our registration materials and then go to the exhibit hall that was opening at 5:30. The exhibit hall was CRAZY. It was so packed that it honestly felt more like we were cattle being herded than people looking to get books.

It was  there, however, in that crowded exhibit hall, that I ran into Allison Tran, someone I have known through various online spaces for the past ten years and whom I only just met face to face at that moment. You don't even know how excited I was to finally meet her in person and to realize that she is just as sweet as she is on Twitter and Facebook.

Finally getting to meet my longtime online friend, Allison Tran

After the exhibit hall, Alyson and I took a cab to Epic, a restaurant downtown where the Walden Pond Press party was being held. It was there that I got to catch up a little bit with some more of my Nerdy Book Club friends and also meet some tweeps that I had never met in person like Kathy Burnette and Jennifer Reed. I was also able to talk to Allison more since she was also at the party. Thanks Kellie Celia for hosting such an "Epic" party. I had a wonderful time!

With Mo Willems, Laurie Halse Anderson, Mac Barnett, and Jon Klassen

On Saturday I hung out in the exhibit hall for most of the morning and afternoon where I met and talked to authors like Mo Willems and Laurie Halse Anderson (well, "talk" to Mo Willems is a bit ambitious to say given that his line snaked for what seemed like miles and you could only get one  book signed with no personalizing), and left with a giant bag of books. Then later that evening Katherine Sokolowski and I took a cab to Hyde Park where the incredibly lovely and gracious Elizabeth Fama, author of Monstrous Beauty,  was having a party at her house.

I don't even know how to describe this party. It was the most lovely party I've ever been to. Beth's house was inviting and warm, the food was phenomenal -- made in large part by her incredibly talented and artistic children -- and there was a laid-back, comfortable feeling to the whole evening I never would have imagined given the fact that most of us were going to this generous woman's house and she had never even met us in person. That is the power of Twitter, y'all. So many people say that social media is making us less social because we feel like we don't have to interact face to face anymore, but I'm finding the opposite is true. I have formed so many friendships and I go out more now than I ever did before I had Facebook and Twitter accounts. I mean, the very word party used to send shivers down my spine. As an introvert, the idea of having to insert myself into a conversation and make small talk just made me want to go home and read a book in my pajamas instead. But now I'm surrounding myself with people I've already gotten to know online and who I know love books. So there's no awkward conversation because we're all book people.

Thank you Elizabeth Fama for your hospitality and generosity at opening your home to people you barely knew. The only thing you knew about us was that we were book people, and to you that was good enough.

On Sunday I spent a good portion of the day in the exhibit hall hanging out with Niki Barnes and Sherry Gick:

Niki waited in line with me to meet Katherine Applegate so we could get our copies of The One and Only Ivan signed. While we waited in line we talked to an older couple behind us who knew nothing about the Newbery and Caldecott winners. In my mind I was saying, "How could you not know anything about these books?" but instead, I decided to tell them about Ivan and then I pulled out my copies of I Want My Hat Back and This Is Not My Hat, and did an impromptu read aloud right there in line. Niki snapped a picture for posterity:

When we got to the front of the line, I was completely floored and blown away when Katherine saw me, recognized me, and gave me a hug. My year was made in that moment right there. I couldn't believe that the Newbery winning author of 2013 knew my name and gave me a hug.

With the One and Only Katherine Applegate

I also met Benjamin Alire Saenz, author Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. This book won THREE ALA Youth Media Awards in January: a Printz Honor, the Stonewall Award, and the Pura Belpre Award. With that many awards, book lovers who had never read it were scrambling to get their hands on a copy - I was one of them. It was such a beautiful story and such an important story, that I actually found myself unable to speak when I made it to the front of the line to get my book signed. I tried to tell Benjamin what a beautiful book it was, but ended up choking back tears instead.  I felt like such an idiot.

With Sherry Gick, Brian Wyzlic, and Kathy Burnette

Later that evening, we all got dolled up and went to the event we had all been waiting for since that fateful day in January when the ALA awards were announced: the Newbery Caldecott banquet.

I'm still trying to find the appropriate words to describe the evening. Author Laura Golden probably said it best when she wrote on her blog: "The evening was filled with fairytale magic."

And it really was.

Not only did the books that we had rooted for win the most coveted awards in children's literature, but the speeches that accompanied these awards were magical as well.

Inside the banquet room

Dessert featuring a white chocolate 75th anniversary Caldecott logo

Jon Klassen endeared himself to the audience as he

Nerdy Book Club friends enjoying the Newbery Caldecott banquet

choked back tears while thanking the people who made the award possible, and called his books "my little guys." He even surprised us all when he said his inspiration for This is Not My Hat was a "little-known story called 'The Telltale Heart'" by Edgar Allan Poe.

Really?

But then as he explained it, everything made sense. Just as in "The Telltale Heart", the little fish in This Is Not My Hat has done something wrong and "he's given the whole floor... to try to make an argument for his reasonableness and sanity by telling us his version of how things went down," and then ultimately succumbs to his crime.

Now that I know what inspired This Is Not My Hat, I'm going to be using this as further argument that picture books are not just for elementary students: high school and middle school teachers should be using them in their classrooms too. I mean, how much fun would it be to give kids an assignment to compare "The Telltale Heart" with This Is Not My Hat?

Katherine Applegate's speech was just as gracious, humorous, and heartfelt as you would expect it to be. She began her speech by informing the audience that she is probably the only Newbery medalist in history to have written Harlequin romance novels early in her career - and then proceeded to read to us a particularly painful (and yet hilarious) passage.

Some gems from her speech:

•  "I'm wearing this sucker to Target." (as she was handed her medal)
• "I learned that writing is excruciating and I learned that writing is exhilarating."
• "I ghosted so much I was positively ectoplasmic."
• "It's quite fair to say that it took me a while to locate my literary sea legs."
• "You my friend, have potential." (As she read to us a fan letter from her Animorphs days)
• When Katherine thanked Colby Sharp, John Schu, and the Nerdy Book Club, I think we all wanted to scream, but we held back because it was just too dignified of an event for hooting and hollering.

And finally, the last speech of the evening was Katherine Paterson who won the Laura Ingalls Wilder award which, according to ALA's website, "honors an author or illustrator whose books, published in the United States, have made, over a period of years, a substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children."

Katherine Paterson, winner of the Laura Ingalls Wilder award

It shocks and surprises me that Paterson is only just now winning this award as her presence in the children's lit world has been "substantial and lasting" for many years now. In fact, as the chair of the Wilder committee introduced her, they even joked that the reason she hadn't won the award yet is because everyone thought that surely she had already won it. Her speech, like Klassen's and Applegate's, was absolutely perfect. It was humorous and endearing, and made tears stream down everyone's face. I spent the whole evening clinging to my tissues. It was, to paraphrase Laura Golden, simply magical.

I am so grateful that I not only got to be part of this evening, but that I was able to share it with my book loving friends. The stars aligned perfectly for this night to happen. It really was the opportunity of a lifetime.

Oh how your food does enchant me Rick Bayless

This past weekend my husband and I, along with two of our friends, drove to Chicago for the day to visit the Christkindlmarket. We also decided that our short jaunt to The Windy City had to include a meal at a Rick Bayless establishment. Last November,  when NCTE was held in Chicago, I experienced my first Rick Bayless meal at his informal lunch-counter-style restaurant, Xoco (pictures in the link currently don't work. I'm in the process of contacting Flickr to find out what the problem is!) Over one year later and I am still craving that meal.

This time, instead of Xoco, we had brunch at Frontera Grill and I don't even know where to begin to describe what a delightful meal it was. Rick's food is sophisticated, yet rustic and unpretentious at the same time. He seeks to go beyond just the typical vision most people have of Mexican food that it's just tacos, burritos, and fajitas. In his travels through Mexico, he really sought to find all of the flavors and traditions, not just the typical ones most Americans are used to.

Our meal started innocently enough with guacamole. I would like to say for the record that I do not even like guacamole, but our friends ordered it and were over the moon that it was guacamole they've ever had. Since I'm not one to turn down an opportunity to prove myself wrong about a previous aversion, I decided to give it a try. And guess what? It wasn't just good, it was delicious. It was creamy and buttery and had just the right amount of garlic. The person who said she didn't like guacamole was proven wrong. Not only that but I am now craving it. I will drive to Chicago just for some of that guacamole.

In addition to guacamole, my husband ordered an appetizer of Mexico City-style quesadillas stuffed with molten cheese. And look what a cute, cozy package they're served in:

For my brunch I ordered the red chile meatballs cooked in a guajillo chile sauce, served with braised kale and crispy onions. And while it may look simple and rather bland, the side of black beans and rice I ordered to go with my meatballs was to die for. The flavor and texture of the black beans was perfection, something that many places often get wrong, making bland, mealy beans instead of the smooth and creamy and full of flavor beans Frontera makes.

Pork meatballs with braised kale and crispy onions

Simple yet perfect: black beans and rice

A pleasant surprise from our experience at Frontera was that Rick Bayless was making an appearance that day to sign copies of his new cookbook. So not only did we have a fabulous meal, but we got to meet a chef that I greatly admire. It was the perfect way to spend a rainy afternoon in Chicago.

My husband and me with Rick Bayless

I still preferred the lunch I had a year ago at Xoco to the brunch I had last week at Frontera, but that is me being extremely nit-picky. Rick Bayless's food, no matter which restaurant you choose, is the perfect way to abolish any misconceptions you might have about what Mexican cuisine and flavors truly consist of.

Christkindlmarket: A small taste of Germany in downtown Chicago

This past weekend my husband and I, along with two of our friends, took an impromptu road trip to Chicago to go to the Christkindlmarket and then to have brunch at Frontera Grill (more on Frontera later).

It's no secret that I love Germany, which is ironic because when I lived there eight years ago, I was dreadfully homesick and wanted nothing more than to live an unenlightened, unexplored life back home in my little bubble in suburban Detroit. But I came away from those two years a changed person and I now have a greater appreciation for other cultures and approaches to life (and it's also where my zest for travel came from). One of the things I greatly appreciate and admire about Christmas in Germany is how festive and comforting it is. There doesn't seem to be this race to go broke buying your family more and more things. Instead of racing to Wal-Mart on Thanksgiving day to trample the mobs of people scrambling for a $200 big screen TV, the pace of German Christmas is much slower and focuses more on quality rather than quantity. Trampling is replaced with meandering. People wander the shops in the downtown pedestrian zone and then make their way to the Christmas Market, usually at the base of the cathedral or city hall, to sip Glühwein and soak in the holiday spirit.

When my husband and I returned to the states in 2005 we continued to attempt to find ways to bring a little bit of Germany back home with us, but it just hasn't been the same. I make Glühwein every Christmas Eve, but honestly, there's nothing like meandering along the old, cobbled streets with that bewitching brew between your hands to keep you warm. We even attempted to go to Frankenmuth, Michigan's "Little Bavaria" (AKA, the lamest place you could ever visit if you've actually been to Germany. Sorry to all those Frankenmuth lovers out there), a few years ago when word of a "traditional German Christmas market" was said to be going on there, but it was one huge letdown. It wasn't even close to looking or feeling like a German Christmas market. More like something the Rotary Club would put on. There was no attempt at ambiance. It was just a bunch of people sitting under a tent selling stuff. And worst of all: there was no Glühwein! How can you have a German Christmas market without Glühwein?

Nuremberg Christmas market 2004

Me soaking in the Christmas spirit in Nuremberg

Even our small town of Schweinfurt had a quaint little Christmas market

 A few years ago, one of my students told me that Chicago puts on a "traditional German Christmas market" every year and that I should check it out some time. Every year I tell my husband that we need to go, but every year the school year pulls the rug out from under me and I never have time to take a weekend to go check it out. This year I decided to forget about the pile of papers sitting on my desk and the lessons I had to prepare for the next week and I asked my husband if he'd like to go to Chicago for the day to check out the Christmas market. We decided to make a whole day in the city, have a nice dinner, and stay the night so if the Christmas market was a bust, we could at least say we didn't waste 8 hours in the car for nothing .

I am happy to report that in terms of "traditional" and "German", Chicago knows how to do a Christmas market right, replete with quaint wooden stalls, a "town square" location, and yes, even Glühwein. There were a few things I didn't like about the location however: the surrounding area was too modern to feel European and, more importantly, Daley Plaza was far too small and crowded to house the number of weekend visitors it gets. Walking around proved to be more of a chore than a joy, and this was even on a rainy day when many more people probably opted to stay home. But hey, I'll forgive them because what the market lacks in space, it makes up for in... Glühwein! :)

Hanging out at the Chicago Christmas market on a crowded, rainy, December Saturday

You can't avoid the Christmas spirit with a steaming mug of Glühwein in your hand

Another Christmas market requirement: The smell of candied nuts wafting in the air

Make sure you only get in this line for bratwurst

If I were grading the Chicago Christkindlmarket on authenticity I'd say they get it exactly right, but in terms of accommodating the number of visitors, they've clearly outgrown their current location and need to think about finding a larger space. Perhaps I should write someone a strongly-worded letter about that. Has anyone else ever been to the Chicago Christkindlmarket? What did you think?

Chicago is a feast for the eyes and the stomach

Prior to my trip last week, I had never been to Chicago before. I know what you're thinking. How can someone who lives only 4 hours away and loves to travel, never visited Chicago before? The truth is, I don't have an excuse. But my attendance at the NCTE conference last week ended my lifelong Chicago drought.

Besides all of the amazing authors and teachers I met at NCTE, I also took some time to experience the beauty and culinary delights of this great American city.

Upon arrival in Chicago, my husband and I took the obligatory architecture cruise along the Chicago River. Even though we froze our butts off, it was a beautiful sunny day and we learned a lot about, not just the architectural history of the city, but the history in general. I highly recommend this be your first activity if you've never been to Chicago before. You learn a lot and you also get a general lay of the land as well.

Two of our memorable dining experiences in Chicago were lunch at Rick Bayless's casual dining restaurant, Xoco, and dinner at Sable Kitchen and Bar.

Every time I watch Rick Bayless cook or I hear his food described on TV, my mouth immediately begins watering. I knew that my first trip to Chicago had to involve eating at one of his restaurants. We decided to go with his lunch-counter/street food-style joint called Xoco and we were not disappointed. It was by far the best Mexican food I've ever had.

Rick Bayless does not serve what Americans consider typical Mexican fare. You will not find tacos, burritos, fajitas or the like anywhere on his menus. Rick has dedicated his career to introducing Americans to the variety and unique flavors of Mexican cuisine.

 The specialties of Xoco are tortas (Mexican subs), caldos, (meal-in-a-bowl soups), churros (fried dough with cinnamon and sugar) and hot chocolate.

To whet our appetites, we ordered the chips and salsa that included a bright salsa verde, and a smoky, piquant 3-chile salsa.

Even my husband, who generally does not like salsa, continuously dipped his chips in one of the two bowls before inhaling them.

My main lunch order was the torta ahogada which was topped with pork carnitas, black beans, pickled onions, and swam in a spicy tomato broth.

Mouths have memories just as much as minds do, and my mouth remembers every bite of this delicious torta. I already know that our next visit to Chicago will include a trip to Xoco just to eat this sandwich. I honestly don't even remember what my husband ordered because I was just so enamored with this dish.

Even though we were full from our satisfying tortas, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to try the churros and hot chocolate.

What is incredibly unique about the hot chocolate at Xoco is that it is literally bean-to-cup. You can watch them grinding the cocoa beans to create this thick and luscious drink. It's like drinking a slightly thinned-out, melted candy bar.

As you can see, despite our fullness, we didn't let much of this amazing dessert go to waste.

The second memorable meal in Chicago was at a restaurant that has recently been put on the map due to the fact that its executive chef, Heather Terhune, is on Top Chef this season. Sable Kitchen & Bar has forged its niche in the Chicago culinary scene with what they are dubbing New American cuisine (think comfort food with a twist).

The vibe at Sable is very hip, yet casual at the same time. Food is served as small dishes designed for sharing. They keep the menu at the table because the idea is to order as you go along.

We started with a flatbread of potatoes, mushrooms, and taleggio cheese, which was, believe it or not, a lovely light starter to some of the epic dishes to come later in our meal.

The next dish was a trio of short rib sliders with a root beer glaze and crispy onions.

While we were feasting on the sliders, we thought the perfect accompaniment would be the duck fat steak fries topped with cave-aged cheddar and fleur de sel

But the epic finale of our meal was... wait for it... BACON JAM...topped with brie and served with toasted baguette

 It has been thoroughly documented here on this blog (and on Facebook and Twitter... and in my classroom...) that I have a rather zealous obsession with bacon. I am always looking for new ways to use the meat candy in my home cooking, so I will order almost anything in a restaurant that features bacon as the star ingredient. I mean, if I'm willing to put bacon in ice cream, I think it's pretty clear that I go big or go home, and bacon jam is going big, let me tell you. From the intense smoky and sweet scent, to the rich, luscious mouth-feel, this is one of the few bacon dishes that I can truly call sensual. I think I went into a bit of ecstasy upon that first bite.

But if bacon jam was the ecstasy part, there was bound to be an agony. Unfortunately for me, that was my nonexistent night of sleep immediately following this gluttonous meal. It was my own fault. I ate too much. But the food was just so delicious, I couldn't stop. And to put in perspective how amazing this meal was, I am always one to ban any and all food that has caused me to be sick from ever entering my stomach again. Even after my sleepless night as punishment for my gluttony, I would go back to Sable and eat that bacon jam again in a heartbeat.

Has this ever happened to anyone else? You had a meal so amazing that you couldn't stop eating, and then paid for it later? Or should I just change the word "Foodie" in the title of my blog to "Glutton"?