FINALLY GETTING AROUND TO POSTING MY PACIFIC NW PICS WAHOOOO

here's a little preview of what you can expect :)

guinness believer (and a quick stop in chinatown)

sooo remember how i told ya'll about guinness holding a promotional event in the chi?

as a seasoned veteran of going to diageo's promotional events (slashhhh...i've only been to one other), i have a certain level of expectation. so how did this one compare?

1. the location

it took place at the chicago illuminating company. which is pretty far south. and i guess it's the cool new place to hold things? i just saw on gilt city that they're hosting a weekend's full of dining events at the venue. it's kind a schlep but free (or we made it free..) parking in the back. 

2. the food

so they didn't have warm passed hors dourves :(. instead they had cheesy/salty/peppery popcorn, a cookie platter, chips+ salsa and pretzels that were cold and soggy.... oh, and no plates?? haha. so that kinda put a stinker on things. 


2. the beers

baby cup of black lager!

first we tried the the guinness draught, which is the one that everyone's most familiar with.  they're all brewed from the same place so b.s. on the ppl who say it tastes better here or there. it was influenced by porters mr. guinness had in london...soooo i guess they're more british than irish? lolololz. oh, and *bonus fact* it only has 125 cals/serving.

the second beer was the foreign stout, which is probs one of my new faveskies. it's a west indian porter. so back in the day when ppl had to sail long distances, they could only really drink alch. they added extra hops to beer make it last during the long voyage and oh hey...it tasted really good! so that's where ipas and such goodness originate from. (well..that's swongy's synopsis on that lol) well that's kind of the deal with this beer. it sweeter, yet more bitter, and just overall more interesting than the draught.

the last one we tried was the black lager.  i guess it's for those who want a "lighter tasting" guinness. i could see what they were going for with this...trying to capture the ppl who didn't like how 'heavy' guinness. (oh hey marketing terms!) but i probs wouldn't buy this to beer again. it was kind of just meh for me...butttt look how cute the cup was!

3. the "show"

i mean, it is what is its. he's there to sell guinness and make us believe it's the greatest thing ever. but i did get to learn some cool information. like...

- homedude mr. guinness took the irish seal, mirrored it, then trademarked that. sneaky, sneaky!

- guinness book of world records is related to guinness the beer

- and as i predicted, we were shown how to pour a perfect pint.  but the boyf and i realized this is pretty pointless. like...how often are we going to need to pour a guinness from our own keg? oh wait, #WhenImRich (never). this way to pour a guinness is where i'm at.

overall, the guinness believer event was meh. would i go back to another one? probs not. but it was a good way to spend 45 minutes and yay for some free guinness and snackies.  and i got to learn more about different guinness products and find my new love, foreign stout. 

but when life gives you lemons...you go on a mini foodcrawl!

since we were already down there we obviously stopped by chinatown for dinski. aaand made a mini foodcrawl out of it hehe. we had a vietnamese pork bahn mi from ba le -- good crunchy but light bread and yummy toppings, but the meat seemed just like hot dog... then some wonton noodle soup and dofu fa from gourmet foods inc -- awkie place with kinda rude staff but the food was delish, homemade, and sooo cheap. everything was only $8 and we had leftovers...our last stop was st anna's for dessert but they close sometime before 8pm on a saturday??? :( [but it was probably for the better because we were already so full lol]

top moments from baconfest 2k12

i'm gonna need some time to collect my thoughts about the 3 hour insanity that was baconfest. so much food..and drinks...and crazy foodies... but i thought in the meantime i'd run through some of the top moments of baconfest.

1. realizing there are a ton of people who are waaay more intense about food/bacon than i will ever be. we arrived about 10 mins before it was going to start and saw 100's of ppl who had been waiting there for hours. (congrats..you got like, 5 more minutes of baconness) so many bacon-themed shirts/hats/pants. legit saw a man wearing a pig mask (and an illinois jersey..?).

2. bone luging. what is it you ask? it's taking an order of bone marrow and using the hollowed out bone as a beer bong. as s.chen perfectly explained "it's like an arrogant foodie's version of a frat party". it was only something i had seen online but had yet to see in person. ohhhh but someone was serving them at baconfest. the drink had gin in it so i had to pass :(

3. seeing bacaro repping the 217! and getting a free shirt from them!! and also getting this chunk of bacon..? it's currently just chillin in my fridge..if u have ideas of what i should do with it holla at me

4. we ended up having a lot of drink tickets left over...

5. oh hey huge slabs of crispy pork. as if i wasn't already in love with the peninsula and have wanted my wedding there since i was 11...they had to bring these bad boys to baconfest and make me love them even more. oh, and the dude carving saw me taking a pic and gave me extra pieces of the ends aka the most crispy/fatty/best part :)

6. discovering a new business venture: cup holder belts. one of the hardest things to figure out was how to hold a drink and eat at the same time. hint: it's impossible. how could we have a drink, yet have our hands free too? oh...i know -- A CUP HOLDER BELT. and we could make a lot of money off of this and i wouldn't have to look for a job...totes legit, no?


so those were some of the highlights and i promise you there will be an extensive recap of the food later this week :)

april dose recap!

yayyy there was a dose this past sunday! they're such a fun thing to go to to people watch and see new things. this time i went w these fine ladies.

so this thing has like, art and clothes and jewelry..but i'm not rich cultured enough to look through and appreciate all of that stuff.

i tend to just focus on the food at dose. well, that and scoping out random chi-town celebs hehe (still holding onto that one time i walked past ryan poli and kelly zink last fall..)

here's my recap of this month's dose. *surprise* its mostly all about food.

have you heard of an alfajor? well me neither until i stopped by the lucila's homemade table. alfajores are traditional argentinian pastries of dulce de leche caramel sandwiched between crumbly cookies and the edges are rolled in coconut.  and look how pretty they're wrapped! they were really good but def need to be eaten with some tea or coffee. i filled up on samples but bought one to bring back to the boyf. i guess a bit expensive for one little cookie but they were delish, packaged well, and they gave me a cute little bag so my cookie wouldn't get smooshed in my purse.

soo sauces with fried chicken is pretty common. i'm a big fan of hot sauce. mama likes her fried chicken with bbq. ummm well...have you ever thought about a honey butter with your fried drummy? yupppp. that happened. and it's soooooo so good. wuddup honey butter fried chicken (or as i kept saying, honey fried butter...which also could be a really good dish, amiright?) i was really excited when i heard about this place last week on grubstreet and i was not disappointed at all. this is one of the most genius/unexpected things evaaaaar.  the chicken was great on its own. (and i'm usually not that big of a fan of dark meat thanks to mama's drumsticks-for-dinner-overkill of 2001) i think the crust had some smoked paprika, giving it a spicy and smokey taste that worked reallly great against the creamy and sweet honey butter. if it were acceptable, we would've eaten that butter by the spoonful. (slaaaash we did...don't judge) they also were offering a fun sounding veggie side and some fruit tart with bourbon...clearly we know what interests swongy. anywho, they're opening a storefront THIS SUMMER  i'll def go back/picnic/daydrink with some of their deliciousness.

i also tried lamb burger from the peasantry. this was also another place i was excited about because it's being opened by the same dude who opened franks n dawgs.  (fyi franks n dawgs is byob and across the street from the original goose island factory..) the peasantry place is going to be his take on a burger joint ie gyros, etc. so how was the burger? well i'm always a big fan of lamb... and the seasonings in this burger were really awesome and warm (??...haha idk like cumin-y, etc) and worked well with a briney/garlicy sauce. and we were being healthy because there were some olives and edamame in the sauce!!! apparently opening a few blocks from lf and lis in lincoln park? def will be checkin it out

these babies are homemade graham cracker with ginger buttercream from crumb (i think..). the graham crackers were less crumbly compared to the ones in the store and obvs so much better. the buttercream wasn't tooo gingery which was ok because the graham cracker had some cinnamon (or nutmeg?) so it could've easily gotten too overwhelming.

lis got pork carnitas tacos from antique taco, which took approximately forever to get but w/e. the pork was crispy and not dry, yay! and it was really flavorful. there was some queso fresco, lettuce spinach, and BACON on top. apparently lis was expecting avocados and didn't get any..saddies. but these were really good and after reading this red eye article about them i'm very intrigued about the place. if you're too lazy to read the link... one of the owner explains, “I tell people it’s like a taco stand meets farmers market meets Anthropologie … while drinking a canned beer,” ummm like, like, extremely like, love. the storefront is "coming soon" to wicker park. o0o0o0 is it gonna give big star a run for its money!??!?

other notables but i coudn't eat/spend money on but had to take a pic of:

pie pops. how cuuuuute. i've talked about pie pops before but these were from cheap tart instead of hoosier mama.

other notes: lf got provencal garlic almonds and spicy sichuan peanuts from mama's nuts.  she said the almonds were awesome but the peanuts are hard to eat because they're so spicy. minj got an really awesome necklace from shades of grey. the designer was super nice and offered to shorten it on-the-spot and to meet up if she ever wanted to see something in person!

if i needed a k cup machine i'd totally do this

family style (aka all-u-can-eat) brunch by mindy segel of hot chocolate fame, BOTTOMLESS MIMOSAS AND COCKTAILS, free transportation, free k-cup machine, and money all goes to charity

oh, and the girl who's hosting it used to host check please before alpana. so it'd be really cool to talk w her. (well...like....if i actually had the confidence to talk to celebs of the food world)

i don't use k cup machines nor do i live in the city to take advantage of the free ride by uber (aka no enjoying bottomless bevies). so $75 seems a bit steep for what would basically be just brunch.

worth it if you're in the city. pretty sure it'll sell out within the next few hours.

if you don't have a gilt city account you should get one. they always have interesting (often random) deals and events going on. aaaaand because signing up thru the link will get you (and i) 20% off ur first purchase :D

ONE WEEK AWAYY!!!!!!!

swongy's top picks for baconfest

so the menu (read:line up) for baconfest is out!!!!

i'm going to have to average 18 plates per hour in order to get through all 55 stations. oh, and not to mention bacon bloody mary's, templeton rye, and goose island beers i havta sip on too! sometimes life is just soo hard :(

idk if i should be training the next week and a half by fasting or by steadily increase the size of my meals till game fest day.

so here are some of the ones i'm REALLY looking forward to:

• Bacaro: Bacon & Egg sandwich (triple-s farm bacon, fried egg puree, pickled ramp relish, mistato radish, and bacon challah) woooo repping the 217! kinda weirded out by the "egg puree"...like is it different than scrambled eggs? but wooo to the ramp relish and radish (cuz i love my condiments) and the bacon challah! i wonder if they're baking it in-house or getting it from pekara or mirabelle's
• Bleeding Heart Bakery: Bacon-wrapped house-made sausage deep-fried in croissant dough with horseradish mustard. so many hyphenated words! i would be happy with just deep-fried but adding all of these together?? sounds amazing
• The Bristol: House-extruded bacon pasta salad.  how could i pass up homemade pasta? esp one that has bacon IN it!
• Chizakaya: Baconomiyaki (Japanese stypled stuff "pizza" with Nueske's bacon, napa cabbage, pickled ginger, scallion, shrimp, nori and bonito flakes.) i've really wanted to try an okonomiyaki since i saw anthony bourdain having one on no reservations. anddd i've really wanted to have chizakaya since i heard them being described as japanese pub food. and this is a special that won't be in the restaurant..so hehe
• Flo and Santos: Peppered bacon-wrapped pork wing with a bourbon coffee barbecue sauce. According to them "a pork wing is a pork shank that has been brined, battered, and french to allow you to hold it like a wing". ummmmm so battered pork wrapped in bacon with a crazy delish sauce on a bone stick....YES PLEASE
• Hearty: Bacon Rice Crispies with assorted "cereal milk".  So i'm hoping this cereal milk is the same as momofuku's. and i've also really wanted to try the hearty boy's stuff since they've won the first season of food network star. and i wonder if they're gonna do more because i know they hosted a baconfest dinner at hb.
• Lillie's Q: Bacon on Bourbon St (bacon custard-filed bacon beignets with cafe du monde coffee and chicory bacon syrup.) still have never been to NOLA so this could make up for that? bacon.in.every.single.layer.oh.my.geez.
• Paddy Long's: Bacon Grenades (mini bacon bombs beer-battered and deep fried). I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS ALL MEANS BUT I WANT IT. and i'm obviously intrigued if it has "bomb" in its title.
• Pleasant House Bakery: Bacon and pork pie w/ bacon fat crust.  i keep hearing how amazing their pasties are. so i can only imagine how insane the crust is gonna be with bacon fat added
• Union Sushi: Panko bacon w baby arugula salad served with a bacon reduction and house-tonkatsu sauce. Bull&theBear has an asian-themed breaded bacon dish too but union's sounds better to me. aaand this plate actually has veggies! the house-made tonkatsu sauce is an added bonus.
• West Town Tavern: Bourbon-bacon caramel corn. i've heard of something like this before. but didn't have the opportunity to order it. so i def wanna try it at the fest.
• ZED451: Bacon pancake pops in a bourbon glaze so i'm kind of a bummed that it's on their regular menu but w/e. this sounds really good.

ok, so i guess it's not really a short list. but i REAAAALLLY tried to pick out my favs from the list of 55 booths.

i'm too nervous to check out the dinner shift in fear i'll be really jealous haha

anyways.... SOSOOSOSOSOSOOS PUMPED :)

free tasting events!!!

so remember the awesome johnnie walker event i did a few months back? here's a refresher if you don't remember.

wellllll they're doing it again!

even though it'll probably be the exact same thing as last time...i signed up to do it again. um, definitely worth listening to the same speeches and watching the same videos if it means i get free food and blue label johnnie! (and like, 4 other labels)

there are a bunch of times still available. if u wanna do it sign up here

there's also a guinness event going on that same weekend. after googling and reading a few yelp reviews, it looks like it's not as fancy as the johnnie event (aka no tasting of $150 alcohol...). according to this dude you'll get some food, a pint, and a few tastes of other guinness products. (so there are other guinness products..?) 

anyways...free food and beer is free food and beer, so i'm obviously still down. and it'll be cool to learn more about guinness. watch out, i'm going to be one of those annoying ppl being like "noooooo this is how you pour a perfect pinttttt ughhhhhh i'm so cooooooool"

smart swong signed up for the guinness event on friday (april 13th) at 6 and the johnnie event at 8. so you should sign up then too.

(i wonder diageo will notice that i'm going to a bunch of their marketing events...haha)

curry fried rice

fried rice is high up there on the dishes swong makes most often. probably because you can it with anything (as long as you have leftover rice) and it's easy to do. (so easy, even the bf can make it! har har har)

i wanted fried rice the other day but didn't have any soy sauce. instead of just walking across the street to county to buy some, i decided to improvise with what i had. i looked in my spice cabinet and decided...curry fried rice it shall be!

What I used:

- 1/2 c leftover rice

- 2 slices of firm tofu, cubed

- 1.5 cups frozen normandy blend veggies

- 1 smal onion, chopped

- 1/2 tsp curry powder

- splash of water

i tried to cut the tofu into uniform-sized cubes

i microwaved the veggies to thaw a little but then chopped them into smaller pieces

the onions cooked in some oil until they were a bit transluscent, then i added the tofu and let it brown a bit. then the veggies.

added the rice, curry powder and water. the water helps cook the veggies and rice more..and also helps get the yummy brown bits from the bottom.

and finished!

i forgot to start timing this, but it probably took about ten minutes for everything. the onions and caulliflower pieces were the under-the-radar winners here. they tasted sooo good in combo with the curry powder! maybe next time i'll do a stirfry just of the two.

granola bars!!

i don't need to say much about my love for ina garten. because well, it's been talked about. knowing this about me, it's probably no surprise that even without cable in my apt i make sure that i get my barefoot contessa fix through using hulu and timing my work outs to catch airings at the gym (ok..i've actually only done this twice).

homegirl made granola bars the other day and i couldn't stop thinking about them.

maybe it's the training, maybe it's my love for ina, or maybe just that i'm a fatty...but i decided i NEEDED to make those granola bars.

i used this recipe but made a few changes. first off, i double it because at the time it seemed like a good idea? now i have enough granola bars for the rest of the year. whoopsies.

i also substituted chia seeds for wheat germ because i didn't have any (and chia seeds are sooo trendy/the new flax seed, duh.)

What I used:

- 4 cups rolled oats

- 2 cups sliced almonds

- 2 cups coconut

- 6 tbsp butter

- 2/3 cup honey [i forgot to double this :( ]

- 1/2 c light brown sugar

- 1/2 tsp salt

- 1 cup each dried apricots (chopped), cherries (cut in halves), and cranberries

- 1 cup chia seeds

toasted the almonds, coconut and oats at 320 for about 10 mins

while the ingredients were toasting..the butter, sugar, salt, honey and vanilla were mix together on the stove over medium heat.

the dried fruit! i got these bags for about $2 each at my new fav store aldi's.

all of the ingredients were mixed together and put into a foil-lined half sheet pan. this is what it looked like before baking in the oven at 300 for 25 minutes.

after baking and three hours of cooling...voila.

cutting them got messy :(

beauuuuuuuty shot.

when life gives you crumbs from cutting granola bars, you make a baggy labeled "granola" and throw it in there!

ok, so they weren't as chewy as i expected... probably because i used half the honey i was supposed to. but they still weren't horribly crumby and got better after being in ziploc baggies for a little bit. the other issue are the chia seeds. they keep getting stuck in my teeth. and then they get slimey...and meh. so maybe next time i'll grind up the chia seeds? idk

but overall...sooooo goood. i love the almonds and coconut in it. i'll defintely make my granola from now on. 

if you want to try some let me know (with a comment! hehe)

look what i did!

sometimes i can come up with smart ideas.  if i had a pinterest account i'd totally post this up.

fast and easy (semi-fancy) pasta

so guess who signed up for the half marathon. this girl did! (and in time this year.. i won't have to pretend to be named katie or whatever haha)

training started this week meaning swong-on-a-(carefully timed)-eating-rampage has begun. you already know how much i love food but it becomes an even bigger deal while training. 

when training you can really notice more the huge range of effects food can have. i can really see how my energy level changes based on certain foods. oh hey glycemic index, i guess you are useful.

during training my eating habits definitely change. i'm snacking almost all of the time, i'll buy foods with refined sugar or flour, and i'll chug HFCS products...(i love you powerade!)

an important meal is the meal after working out. after a run it's good to eat a lot of carbs and protein because it helps your body build muscle and refuel your glycogen stores. but after a run i'm tired, i feel gross and the last thing i want to do is cook a long, complicated meal. 

here's a something i made filled with yummy good-for-you stuff and only took 13 mins to make :)

What I used:

- 1/2 small onions, chopped

- 1 garlic clove, minced

- 1 serving Barilla Plus Thin Spaghetti

- 1/4 cup frozen peas

- handful of Organic Girl supergreens

- Salt &Pepper

- crushed Red Pepper Flakes

- Chicken Breast

 no, i didn't run out of clean pots. this is a lifehacker trick i learned to cook your pasta with less energy, time and water. you want to start the pasta first thing because it takes the longest to cook. my pasta took about 7 mins.

while the pasta's going, prep your ingredients.  then, sautee the onion for about a minute and add the garlic. salt and pepper a little bit too

add the cooked pasta and frozen peas to the onions. then some salt, pepper and a dash of red chili flakes (or whatever seasonings you want).

i had these greens leftover so that's why i added them.  it was nice having it in there because i felt like it brought a new texture to the dish. and greens are always good for you! you could use anything baby greens you have or any more veggies you want.  I tossed these for about a minute to wilt.

13 mins 19 seconds to cook! woohooo. and yes, that is a cracked screen :(

finished product

(while this was all going on, i used the george forman to grill my chicken breasts. none of the pics of this process looked that appetizing and you know..swong's blog only has the highest of standards!! so that's where the chicken magically appeared from)

enjoy :)