Mana Food Bar (CHICAGO)

http://www.manafoodbar.com/

Went to this great little all vegetarian joint in wicker park with a friend last night. Its a lot more fun to have a co conspirator in your hunt for good veggie food.
Since this place doesn't do reservations we waited for about 10-15 mins for  a table. Its a small place but very warm and cosy. They have small plates for sharing which is perfect so you can try a lot more stuff.

 In cold plates we ordered the Quinoa with almonds, tangerine, mint and currants and the Beet and Apple salad with a raspberry vinaigrette. For hot plates we ordered Mana mini sliders made with mushroom and brown rice and the Saag Paneer.

1st Impression: What a great place!! Its cute and I loved the bar stools. Everything on the menu looked so good, it took us a while to decide what to get.

2nd Impression: The Quinoa was great, lightly flavored with a lot of texture. The beet and apple salad was yum. The sliders were good but a little bland for my taste.  The Saag Paneer the one I was most skeptical about turned out to be the highlight of the meal. The spinach was not blended in like regular palak paneer but just thrown in a mixture of rice, paneer in a yummy yogurt based paste.

Icing: Everything was great

So? We have to go back to try the yummy sake and fruit cocktails and the 20 other things on the menu.

Disclaimer: It was quite dark inside so I didn't get any pictures, these are from yelp.

QUARTINO (CHICAGO)

http://www.quartinochicago.com/

Spring is here and its beautiful outside!! Was a warm 19 deg C yesterday and Quartino the Italian place right opposite our building had opened up its al fresco dining. What a treat! I brought a book along for company and ordered a coffee and a pizza

1st Impression: Yay!! we can sit outdoors again, I love the cafe style dining watching people go by

2 nd Impression: The coffee was OK, The Margarita with onions and peppers was a little soggy and lacked salt. Very so so!.

Icing: There was none, except the great weather.

So: Don't think I will order either again. I have eaten here before and love their penne vodka and their minestrone soup.

O donut!!!!

My husband and I did something today we swore we'd never do, Stand in LINE for food. But when we heard this new doughnut place had 4.5 stars out of a 500 reviews in 2 months we had to see what the hype was. So with snow falling on our backs and freezing toes we waited an hour to enter this tiny hole in the wall place called The Doughnut Vault.( http://thedoughnutvault.tumblr.com/)

First Impression: The doughnuts were huge atleast 3 times the size of your Krispy Kreme and the place smelled like heaven.

We had the chestnut glaze, chocolate glaze, pineapple and pistachio chocolate glaze and a coffee.

Second Impression: Oh WOW!!
Loved all the flavors but my favorite was chocolate. They were soft and crispy on the outside, absolutely delish.

The Icing: The coffee. It is the BEST I've had in Chicago so far!!!!

So?: This is a definite will go again!! Just as soon as I figure out how to get around the lines!

Utterly Butterly!!!

Oh how I've missed you!!
After trying every brand of butter available this is still my favorite.

Roasted red pepper soup

Husband made this yummy winter soup tonight!!

Here is how! This serves 6
You need:
6 red peppers
2 tbs olive oil
1 onion chopped
2 garlic cloves crushed
3 ripe tomatoes peeled and chopped
1.2 lt vegetable stock
6 tbs mascarpone cheese or cream cheese
Fresh basil
Salt, pepper

How:
Preheat the oven to 450deg F. Arrange the peppers on a baking tray and cook for 30 mins turning over once, until charred. Transfer to bowl cover with cling film until cool enough to handle.

Heat oil in a large saucepan cook onions and garlic for a 4-5 mins, add tomatoes and stock. Boil reduce heat cover and simmer for 10 mins.

Peel peppers, remove the seeds and blend the flesh. Add the cheese and blend some more. Pour in soup some basil leaves and blend till smooth. Season with salt and pepper and serve.
I sprinkled some Parmesan and crispy onions over the soup to add yumm and texture.

Happy Valentines Day

Made these yummy red velvet cupcakes for the first time today!! Baking probably for the first time in my life it took me 4 hrs to figure this out. But the recipe is perfect and they turned out heavenly!!

Recipe from:
http://www.carrottopmom.com/?p=290

Toothpicks!!

Found these great party toothpicks in Mumbai, cant wait to use them