Tony and I love getting in the car, driving in a direction, and just seeing where we end up for lunch. Some times its a hit, and sometimes its a dud – yesterday was a hit!
But first, I made Artisan bread bagels! I had leftover dough on my counter. I added a bit more flour, then divided the dough into six bagels. I boiled water and added 1/4 cup of sugar and a tablespoon of baking soda to the water.
Boil each side for 2 minutes, and then baked them at 450 degrees for 30 minutes. I also did the same technique of having the broiler pan filled with 1 cup of water to steam the bagels as they cooked. Delicious!
I told Tony I made bagels and asked him if he wanted one. He said yes – I brought it to him and he’s like “it tastes just like the bread you make.” I told him it was the same dough, just shaped into a bagel – then he called me Mike Brady from the Brady Bunch – the reference being that all of Mike Brady designed basically every house to look like the house they lived in – I’ve made the Artisan bread into pizza dough, herbed bread, dinner rolls – and now bagels – I think they all taste different 😀
I had an egg sammie for breakfast:
So Tony and I headed towards Schaumburg. He saw a grocery store he knew I would like – reason number 1,992 that I love him!
I wish Sophia were with me to explain what everything was! I ended up with some good loot:
Hannah and I were going to go to a pumpkin patch today and out to lunch, but she had to take another shift at work today for a co-worker who couldn’t work today. So we are going to have a Mom/Daughter dinner tonight – I plan on making tempura veggies and stir fry for us and we are going to rent a movie. 😀
Then it was on to lunch! We saw this place and decided to give it a try.
Again, I wished Sophia were with us – we had no idea what to do, and the hostess didn’t speak much English. We finally figured out that we could choose the grill menu, or have the kitchen prepare an individual meal.
Once we saw this though – the decision was made!
For $22 bucks each, we could choose as many different meats as we wanted – which I thought was not only a great deal, but a great way to try different things. We looked at each other and were like “do we just get meat?” Hell no! We were brought bowl after bowl of side dishes, we both got miso soup and a bowl of rice – so much food!
They also had a vegetable bar, I got zucchini, mushrooms and green peppers – Tony did the cooking – the meat was so flavorful!
I tried kimchi for the first time – loved how spicy it was! And another favorite side was this tofu salad – it almost had a pickled flavor.
I wanted to be brave so I tried the squid:
Needless to say, this was our linner – we didn’t even want to think of food after leaving – we will definitely be going back there – I think it was a great deal for $22!
We did have popcorn around 9:30 though!
Other than that, I was a lazy lima bean! It was a great day. But now I have to do all my chores today – some cleaning, grocery shopping and some cooking – its a rainy Sunday so I don’t mind 😀
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i live right by koreatown but i’m always frightened – one day i gotta kidnap sophia from USC to come with me!
Once in a while, a girl deserves a lazy day. I’m not big on squid, either. Like eating a rubber band!
Squid??? Good for you for trying it – not sure I would have been so brave! 🙂
I love the experience of Korean BBQ! It’s so much more fun to do at a restaurant rather than do at home because of all the banchan (the little side dishes).
I know how you feel. I get lost in the world of ethnic cuisine. I usually go in with the intention of asking a worker where all the ingredients are, stock up, and then take the time to adventure around.
Holy smokes, your dinner looked like ours last night! J took me out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant and our table was covered end to end w/ plates. We ate and ate and ate and still brought like 1/2 home! Those Asians know how to stuff you! So good, but I agree w/ you about the calamari – so rubbery!!!
Too many things to comment on, baby!
1) OMG. Mochi. You got mochi! I love you!
2) OMG. You got Chinese style noodles!! YES! They taste awesome stir-fried or in a noodle soup!!
3) OMG! You got flour to make steamed buns?! Yes? Yes? Yes?!
4) aw….where is the gochujang? ;-p
5) Good for you! Go for the “gotta have it all”!
6) the way to eat the meat is to wrap it in fresh lettuce, with a bit of rice, and a dab of the fermented bean sauce, or gochujang sauce.
7) I’m not the biggest fan of squid either…but my dad LOVES that stuff! Eats is practically every night, boiled and dipped in gochujang!
8) Did you like the radish kimchi? 🙂
9) I wanna take you out again!!! I think you would love the spicy bbq pork. It’s the only Korean bbq meat I like.
10) Bagels looks freaking good! I have yet to muster up the time and courage to make them.
You are so funny Sophia! And yes, you were the inspiration for getting the flour to make your steamed buns – fingers crossed they come out half as good as yours! I am going to have to find that gohujang sauce next time I go – and the mochi balls are for Hannah – she loves them! 😀
Looks like a shitload of food for lunch – my kinda place!
I love popcorn as a snack!
Those bagels look so good! The remind me of the asiago cheese bagels from Panera!
Ed and I love to do the same thing, no real directions just get in the car and go. Then stop at some random out of our box place to eat. We are having a rainy day in Beaverton today also so I stepped out of the box and tried my hand at some pumpkin curry fritters….they turned out amazing.
That sounds amazing! 😀
Y0u were RIGHT by my house!!! That’s the asian market i go to in a pinch when I can’t make it to Mitsuwa 🙂
I was actually thinking about you – I asked myself “I wonder if Mara knows about this place?” 😀
That looks like fun, getting so much food and grilling it at the table! You are a braver woman than I, though – I wouldn’t even have tried the squid!
You did so much better with your bagels! I forgot half the yeast in mine and put too much water so I had to add whole wheat flour and it deadened the pumpkin flavor and made them more dense. 🙁 I must try again! All that Korean food looks soooo good! And I love shopping at the Asian markets–I feel like I’m in another world.
You never cease to amaze me – homemade bagels?! You are my HERO!!! They look awesome!
I’ve never tried Korean bbq! Looks like fun 🙂
oh i love grilled squid! such great smokey flavor lol. yeah that is a great deal for korean bbq when my family goes, it’s usually $200!!