existential dilemmas

Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced. – Kierkegaard

bruges – a new place in slc

Posted on April 23, 2009 by chloe elizabeth

So, for those of you who don’t know, I spent a semester of my high school career in Belgium. It was hard…very hard; just ask my dad about the phone bill in December of 1992. I was really young (14 to be exact) and not fully prepared to be away from my family for that long. Anyway, I digress.

There were some things I loved about my experience (at the time; there are lots of things that I love about it now…in hindsight). Two of those things: frites and gaufres. Or, in English, fries and waffles. Belgian waffles are familiar to most people, but did you know that fries are really Belgian and not French? Probably not.

Moving on: in Belgium they have fry and waffle stands, just like we have hot dog stands. It’s amazing. The fries are twice fried. Once to cook the potatoes and once to crisp them up. The waffles are not made from batter, but dough; delicious dough full of little chunks of sugar that caramelize when they bake.

When I was in NY, the girls and I went to this place called Pomme-Frites that was amazing. Just like I remember fries in Belgium, right down the curry ketchup (something I find completely and totally disgusting, but authentic, nonetheless).

Then, two days ago, while traveling through the tubes of the Internet, I discovered a place in Salt Lake, serving frites and gaufres (again, fries and waffles). I had to try it before leaving town. The good news, I needed to go to Salt Lake today to run a few errands anyway, so this was just the slightest detour.

Bruges is the name of this fabulous little place, named after the city in northern Belgium where the owner grew up (think Venice, but cooler and cleaner). You can read all about it on the website.

Anyway, it was so worth the detour. The frites are authentic in preparation and taste (the shape was slightly different than those I had in Belgium), served with real European mayonnaise. Not the same as American mayonnaise, but for those of you who think you would never eat fries with mayonnaise (and are currently judging me for doing so), I hope you realize that “fry sauce” is just mayonnaise with ketchup. I know, I thought it sounded disgusting, too…and then I tried it. So yummy! And if you still can’t stand the thought of it, they have other options.

Frtes with mayonnaise…and the little wooden thing…that’s a little fork type thing for eating them. Brilliant!

And then there were the waffles. I wish I had taken a picture of Pierre (the owner) pulling the dough off the parchment and putting it into the waffle iron so you could all see what I’m talking about. But I didn’t. I did, however, capture the end result…a delicious Liege waffle. (Belgians do make batter waffles, too…but the dough ones originated in Liège, which happens to be the province where I was living in high school.)

It was amazing! It’s only been open five weeks and I hope it sticks around for a while. And yes, I did get both waffles and fries. Sue me.

food glorious food

Posted on April 1, 2009 by chloe elizabeth

I spent the weekend in NYC with three of my favorite people; Sarah, Candice, and KP. We did much. But to begin with (since this will require multiple posts) I’m going to chronicle our gastronomic adventures!

It started with lunch with a woman at my summer internship company…at a fabulous little place called V-Cafe. I didn’t take any pictures (somehow I thought it might not be appropriate?), but I must say it was delicious, and pretty affordable for NYC.

Dinner was at Isle on Bleeker (a short walk from my summer digs–as in less than a block); a delightful little Thai place.

Dessert was at Grom. An incredible gelateria also in my neighborhood. Living in Greenwich Village is going to be awesome…and very, very fattening.

The plan for Saturday was to go to Brooklyn for lunch at The Good Fork, a fabulous dumpling place featured on Throwdown with Bobby Flay. However, when we looked at the site online to find the address, we discovered that The Good Fork isn’t open for lunch. So…Max Brenner it was! Eventually, I will make a trip to NYC without a visit with Max, but really I didn’t mind at all. And really, the spinach and goat cheese omelet…amazing!

Kelly got a yummy panini with fantastic waffle fries.

Why yes…that is chocolate on my biscuit. Thank you for asking!

As if chocolate for brunch wasn’t enough, we made a quick stop at Levain Bakery on the way home. Seriously, Sarah brought KP and me a few of these delicious cookies when we were all in Chicago last month. They were incredible. But fresh? No comparison. My favorite is the Double Chocolate Chocolate Chip. No shocker there!

Ahh, and then there was a late night feast at Junior’s. We went after seeing Guys and Dolls (more to come on that later). Totally enjoyable! I love a good Reuben! I didn’t necessarily need the milk shake. But it was good.

But my absolute favorite of the weekend? Pommes Frites, authentic Belgian fries. For those of you who don’t know, I spent a semester in Belgium when I was a sophomore in high school. There is nothing like Belgian fries. Another “for those of you who don’t know”, fries are actually Belgian, not French. And these fries? Totally authentic. They even had European mayonnaise (they call it fry sauce at Pommes Frites). I know that mayonnaise with fries probably sounds disgusting, but I assure you, it is not.

I have often tried to explain how the fry stands in Belgium were, and I don’t think I’ve ever done them justice. This place? Exactly how I remember them (not the look, but the process). For anyone visiting NY (who also enjoy fries), Pommes Frites is well worth a visit. There isn’t much room for sitting, but it’s supposed to be a fry stand, not a restaurant.

Notice the cone in the guy’s hand (above). This is how the fries are served.

And in this picture, you can see the different sizes.

And finally…Doughnut Plant. We got there late, so the selection was limited, but still fabulous! My favorite? The Creme Brulee. Normally I’m not really a filled doughnut fan, but this was incredible! (The pictures with the borders were taken by KP and her fabulous fish eye lens.)

Oh wait…and finally, frosting shots and cupcakes from Babycakes, a vegan bakery. Really, I’m not gonna lie, this was not my favorite of the trip. Maybe if I was vegan and needed something like this to satisfy my sweet tooth, I’d feel differently, but…I’m not and I don’t. Hallelujah! Oh well. It happens. I will say that I didn’t bother wasting the calories once I realized that I didn’t like any of their stuff.

Thankfully, I had another doughnut to end the trip on a satisfying note! Wouldn’t that have been sad? A whole weekend of gourmet eating, only to end with some less than great cupcakes.

chewy oatmeal chocolate chip bars

Posted on February 23, 2009 by chloe elizabeth

I finally had the opportunity to bake. This is the recipe I found for the ingredients I had on hand (I had no desire to go to the grocery store at midnight last night). It was very serendipitous because I don’t know that I would have made these otherwise…and they are delicious!

Ingredients (Yes, this was copied from a website. You don’t have to use brand named stuff…although that happened to be what I had on hand. Does that say something about me?)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
2 1/2 cups Quaker® Oats (quick OR old fashioned, uncooked)
2 cups NESTLÉ TOLL HOUSE Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels (12-ounces)
1 cup chopped nuts (optional – I opted out…I rarely use nuts in baking, just because)

Preheat oven to 375° F.
Beat butter and sugars in large bowl until creamy. Add eggs, milk and vanilla extract; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda and salt; mix well. Stir in oats, morsels and nuts; mix well. Press dough onto bottom of ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack; cut into bars. Store tightly covered.

chicago…the details

Posted on February 21, 2009 by chloe elizabeth

I was so excited to get back to Chicago. It had been almost a year since I’d been there. I was so excited to see Kelly and Sarah and spend a fabulous weekend with those girls.

So, here’s how it went down. And yes…pretty much what I do on vacation in big cities is eat and shop. Don’t judge me!

Kelly’s boyfriend picked me up from the airport and we headed to Uncle Julio’s for dinner. Think Chevy’s…only better. We shared the most delicious fajitas I’ve ever had; lobster, shrimp, and steak. After we headed to Kelly and Kevin’s apartment (new since the last time I was in town) and hung out waiting for Sarah’s flight to get in.

Side note: While waiting, we watched this 20/20 report about people in eastern Kentucky. So disturbing. It seriously broke my heart.

Anyway, Sarah got in and the rest of the weekend included Rockit Bar and Grill for Valentine’s, where I got to meet Kelly and Sarah’s friend, Liz. We went to see He’s Just Not That Into You. It was the second time for me. I think it’s pretty dang funny…because it’s so true.

Sunday morning we went to Hot Chocolate for brunch. There was quite the way, but it was delicious! Seriously. So good. I love yummy breakfast.

We then headed downtown to see this amazing photography exhibit featuring the photograph’s of Yousuf Karsh. So amazing. I’m so glad we went. We also saw a number of other great paintings, like Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatter. I love this painting.

And onto some serious shopping. Seriously. We hit the jackpot at Steve Madden. I bought these three pairs of shoes for under $100. How rad is that! (And yes, two pairs are the same, just different colors).

After shopping, we headed out for cupcakes at Sweet Mandy B’s. Delicious. Oh, and don’t worry, we got cupcakes the day before…I just can’t remember the name of the place where we got them.

Of course it wouldn’t be a trip to Chicago without Chicago style pizza. (Or I guess it would be a trip, just not a complete trip.) So Sunday night we went to Giordano’s. This is the place where I had my first Chicago style pizza. So, so good.And then we went to see a movie that could be my own biography; Confessions of a Shopaholic”. Very cute.

We finished off our weekend of food, fun, and fabulousness at Southport Grocery. While the service was less than stellar, the food was absolutely amazing; the most unique French Toast I’ve ever had. It was delicious. Sorry, no pictures.

It’s amazing how much we packed in to 2.5 days. I have got to stop traveling if I’m ever going to get this weight off, but at least I enjoy myself, right?

but first…the rest of london

Posted on February 17, 2009 by chloe elizabeth

And this is the end of my trip to Europe…over a month later.

I’ve been to London before and I liked it fine, but this trip I fell in love.

We spent some quality time at Leicester Square. This is where discount show tickets can be purchased. And how many did we see in those last few days? FOUR! So, five in total. (We saw Les Mis at the beginning of the trip).

I love that Erika loves theater because it means we went lots. What did we see? Carousel – not fantastic but I remember watching it as a kid at my grandma’s house (my grandma also loves musical theater) so I was excited to see it. Wicked – phenomenal again! Hairspray – absolutely fabulous live…except for a small issue with American diction. And my favorite of the week (not including Wicked because I’d already seen it)? Billy Elliott. Incredible.

And…a food picture. Why I didn’t take my camera to Chicago is beyond me, but I didn’t. How I love taking pictures of food! Almost as much as I like to eat it. This was at this darling French patisserie just off of Piccadilly Square. It was lovely…and the owner was there so I got to chat him up in French. I so need to move back to Europe.

And this was New Year. Seriously. Our hotel was right by the London Eye (as seen in this photo all lit up by fireworks). It was INCREDIBLE. New Year is not my favorite holiday (I don’t hate it…I just think it’s overrated), so spending it in London was fantastic!

Why yes…we do look exhausted. Thanks for asking.

And in case you were wondering where my darling cousin is in these pics…she was back in California. Her trip was just a bit shorter than ours.