Thai Green Chili with Chicken

 

This dish is a variation of a Jamie Oliver recipe. It’s basically chicken cooked in a delicious green herb sauce with coconut milk. And just like Jamie, you’re totally allowed to bung things in…in a very high spirited way. 

Jump to Thai Green Chili with Chicken

Jamie calls his recipe a “Curry”. I’ve left out a signature “Curry” spice – turmeric - so I call mine a “Chili”. Changed name aside, it’s a good example of how to create a great recipe by combining many highly flavored ingredients and then enriching them with coconut milk for a super-savory, creamy sauce.

I didn’t want to call it Thai GREEN CHICKEN Chili, because I don’t find the word GREEN in front of the word CHICKEN particularly appetizing, so I just added "With Chicken"…

A Coffee Wonderland

 

One more Chicago note - if you're a Starbucks fan, you'll be gobsmacked at their outpost in downtown Chicago. If you're not a fan, you should just walk on by...

 

Starbucks' first foray outside of Seattle was in Chicago in 1987. Unfortunately, they opened the day that the stock market crashed - October 19, 1987. After that inauspicious start, little by little they grew until they built a 35,000 square foot temple, The Roastery, celebrating their coffee-making prowess on the Magnificent Mile in 2019. 

 

I learned about it on our Architectural Boat tour. The guide said it was pretty magnificent and if you want a $30 cup of coffee, this is your place. Well, almost but not quite...

 

There is a latte on one of the menus for $6.50, but if you oat milk it up and add olive oil(?), it brings it up to $7.50. That's available on the third floor "Experiential Coffee Bar" with "Oleato" on the menu, which is a "Starbucks Reserve coffee infused with Partanna extra virgin olive oil. Velvety smooth. Deliciously lush." I guess it's in the same category as Bulletproof Coffee. 🤷

Chicago Has Great Eats in Eataly and More

We didn't have a lot of time in Chicago the week after Memorial Day, but we did have some great food. First, I wanted to compare Chicago's Eataly with New York's. Admittedly, I haven't been to New York's since the world shut down, so it may have changed considerably. But their website indicates it's still a pretty hopping place. Even though the Chicago Eataly claims to be 10,000 square feet bigger than New York's, it seemed similar.🤷 

Boats and Frank Lloyd Wright

Off the topic of food for a moment, art comes in many forms. Naturally I believe the culinary arts are ART, in addition to paintings and sculptures, but architecture is another artful pursuit. A short trip to Chicago made this very evident in every corner. The super popular architecture boat tour of Chicago was jam-packed and our enthusiastic guide talked steadily (with 2 short breaks) for NINETY minutes, outlining the changes to the city and giving us incredible detail about a huge number of buildings and skyscrapers that we saw along the Chicago River. 

 

Quick Trip To The Midwest...

We spent last last week in St. Charles and Geneva, Illinois at a lovely wedding on a beautiful farm. I had never been to (heard of?) these two riverside suburban Chicago towns. What struck me was how nice everyone was. Dare I say Midwest nice? They were lovely, friendly, open, helpful and very different from many folks on the coasts – the northeast coast at least. 😬

 

Some high points in St. Charles:

 

The Fine Art Show: