Thursday 15 November
Today we drove up to Chicago to
attend the ASOR annual meeting. What
with all this teaching stuff, we had had little time to prepare, anticipate, or
even set up meetings with friends, so we depended on advice from the Marriott
concierge desk, and on the whole, they didn't steer us too wrong.
First they sent us just down the
street to the Purple Pig, where they're riding high (on the hog) with the trend
of eating whole-hog. Nonetheless, we skipped the
incredible salumi spread. We just had a copa di cava; a few meaty fried sardines
with arugula salad scattered - and this is cute - with identical-looking
lentils, capers, dried currents, and pignoli; and a tasty bowl of almonds,
rosemary, and garlic, crisped in pig fat.
This is addictive, and we'll have to try it at home, maybe using goose fat, as we don't have much lard in the larder.
Our actual dinner was at Cantina
Laredo, again nearby. We didn't know it
was a franchise, but Holt had a yen for Mexican, and the concierge said it was
okay (lines for the Frontera grill being an hour long). Along with some tall glasses of dos equis amber, our chicken enchiladas
with mole were indeed just okay, but the fiesta
di parilla was a step above: good fresh grilled shrimp, chicken, steak, and
carne asado, plus guacamole, crema, and nice pickled onion pico di gallo. The beans and rice were boring, but they
usually are.
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