Weekend Recap

We had another pretty quiet weekend, mostly because our internet was out! All weekend. We are total internet addicts, so it was really annoying that we couldn't get online. We were forced to do other things, like play Lego Harry Potter on our Xbox, go out for dinner and coffee, and watch Food Network. Oh, the horror!

Friday night instead of our planned meal of turkey burgers, I decided to try my hand at making my take on a great dish I had at Gravity Bar and Grill when we were in Michigan a few weeks ago. I have no idea what it was called, and it's not on their menu anymore, but it was a homemade cumin pasta with a spicy, cheesy sauce. And oh man, was it good! The pasta especially was amazing, but the sauce was way too cheesy for my taste, so I thought I'd try my hand at a version with tomato-based sauce instead. It turned out soooo good! I'm going to post the recipe soon, I promise!

Saturday night for dinner, we decided we were in the mood for Mexican food, so we went to Los Nopales. Los Nopales has been on the Bib Gourmand list for several years, and it's easy to see why. Their food is really good, and you can't beat the prices! This was our second time eating here. Like your typical Mexican restaurant, they bring you chips and salsa right away. They actually have two salsas, and they aren't your typical tomato-onion-pepper-cilantro concoctions. I have no idea what's in either one, but I do know they're good! Last time, we started with guacamole, which was your standard fare, and we had the Carne Asada and Enchiladas de Mole for entrees. V had the Carne Asada, which I think he also felt was pretty middle of the road. I had the enchiladas, and I would say they are my second favorite mole in Chicago (behind only Mixteco Grill, also on the Bib Gourmand list). This time, V had the chicken Tortas, and I had the chicken Burrito Dinner. V's tortas were really good. Really, really good. The flavor was awesome, and there was a ton of melty cheese on top. My burrito, however, was kind of meh. It didn't have any sauce or cheese on top, which surprised me, and the chicken was kind of bland. Some sort of sauce or something to give it some more flavor would have rescued it.

After dinner, we went to our favorite place to sit and have a cup of coffee, Julius Meinl. This place is seriously the best place to hang out after dinner. Their coffee is good (reasonably priced and better than Starbucks) and the desserts are the best. They're very European in that they're not overly sweet, and they're always fresh. They also have a full menu, and have a mean brunch! But back to Saturday. We usually stick with the biscotti as it's really good and just the right amount of dessert, but they had some peanut butter sandwich cookies that V just couldn't resist, and let me tell you, if they have them again, neither one of us will be resisting them! They were sweet, but not too sweet. They were crispy, but not too crispy. And it turned out they had chocolate hiding on the inside with the peanut butter buttercream! I about died.

Sunday night we were excited because one of our favorite shows, Worst Cooks in America, was coming back to Food Network. Let me tell you, those people make me feel like a genius in the kitchen!