Owner: Leena Eats this Blog URL:www.leenaeats.com/blog Join Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2007 21:02:41 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Leena eats this blog
... and just about anything else that crosses her path. Recently returning from Australia with her Masters in Gastronomy, Leena is a food writer living and eating her way through Chicago and the rest of the world, sharing her past an Site statistics:Click here
Lamb Curry 2008-05-08 14:55:39 Lamb curry with mango chutney
As my time quickly winds down in Australia, I realize I should be enjoying this time. I should be taking extra trips to the ocean, maybe visiting some more wineries or hugging a couple extra koalas. Instead, I am working hard to finish my dissertation, sell my apartment, move home and find a real job. And you know, if I have time, solve world hunger, the war in I Read more:Curry
Food Nerd Central 2008-04-29 23:04:20 Yeah, I'm still alive and eating well, might I say.
Guys, I am almost there. I am almost done with the dissertation that ate Adelaide (my working title, what do you think?) Cue Chariots of Fire Music.
Da Da Dada Daaaaaaaaa Daaaaaaaaaaa
I just want you to know that I recognize our relationship as food blogger and food blog reader has been compromised over the past few months. Sometimes, it h Read more:Central
Procrastination at its Finest: Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Wattle seed Icing 2008-04-20 22:04:50 Just another "I should have been writing my paper, but instead I baked" mistakes: dark chocolate cupcake with wattle seed icing.
Anyone got a spare two thousand words? The old dissertation is looking a bit skinny at the moment, and after six straight months working on one paper, I have to be honest--I have nothing left to say. I'm spent. Over it. Done. And yet it is still here, demanding w Read more:Procrastination
, Chocolate
, Icing
, its Finest
, Dark Chocolate
Eating South Australia 2008-04-17 01:58:36 The reason why South
Aussies are so happy, the frog cake.
Hey there, remember me? Brown girl, cute, a bit too interested in food? Yup, I’m still alive, but just barely. In 13 days, my 15,000 word dissertation on food blogs is due. In 17 days, I move back to Chicago from Adelaide, South Australia
. I also happen to have less focus than a meer cat on meth. But hey, at least I still have
Setbacks and salted caramel 2008-04-05 22:12:57
You can’t always get what you want. You can’t always get what you want…
Oh sure, it's all fun and games now...
I am a surf goddess. At least, that is what I want you to think when you see this picture. I think I pull off the look quite well. But as I have learned many times in Australia, luck can be a fickle mistress, sometimes bestowing you with treasures beyond your wil Read more:Setbacks
, salted
, caramel
The Parents Visit! (Red Ochre, Cleland Park, Ethiopian!) 2008-06-11 10:23:28 Welcome to Australia, Trivedis! My parents under one of the giant Moreton Bay fig trees in Adelaide.
Adam and I were lucky enough to have several friends and family members come visit us in Australia. I say lucky because for a single round trip ticket to Australia from the US, one could feed a small African country for a year and buy a Super Bowl ticket, so we were endlessly grateful for all t Read more:Parents
, Ethiopian
Melbourne: The Sequel 2008-06-10 09:42:29 Melbourne is a great place to eat. Tons of famous people have eaten here, like...
Any curry that is good enough for the big red man is good enough for me.
And...
Clinton also did amazing things with a cigar, but that doesn't mean the man should be mimicked OR encouraged.
Read more! »
Read more:Melbourne
Peach and Blueberry Crostata (with a side of Stud) 2008-06-12 10:30:00 My rustic peach and blueberry crostata
My old friend Kristen, aka Stud (her nickname) came to visit us at the end of the Australian summer/end of Chicago winter, which was mid-February. She basically went from 6 inches of snow to 6 degrees below 100 F, a true culture shock. Stud is an adventurous gal, and being our third guest, we wanted to mix up the activities a bit. Of course, we did the m Read more:Peach
, Blueberry
Hundred Eaves, take three 2008-06-13 10:43:05 I love this place.
Once upon a time, I went to a tiny little church in South Australia near the ocean. It was on a side street I never would have happened upon had I not known about it. A mammoth cat and two llamas greeted my arrival. Inside, I was served some amazing local food and it rocked my world a bit. It tasted fresh, delicious, complex and thoughtful, and that was only breakfast. So Read more:Hundred
Urban Bistro for dinner 2008-06-17 11:49:22 Caramelized sea scallop and house-cured pork sausage with minted peas: here to rock your world a little bit more.
UrbanBistro
is good.
Really good.
Like, rock my world-good.
Like, lick my plate and stab the waiter if he tries to take it too soon-sort of good (sorry).
Read more! »
My International Goodbye to Australia 2008-06-19 11:28:05 Oh Australia
. You and your fried chicken snacks have captured my heart.
On my last day in Adelaide, I was sitting in a taxi on my way home from the Central Markets, taking in my last views of Victoria Square, King Williams street, and downtown Adelaide...and that is when I heard the Japanese love jam rocking on the radio and my enthusiastic Indian cab driver singing along. I say "love jam" bec Read more:International
, Goodbye
Why I'm Gangsta by Leena 2008-06-18 11:05:46 What did you say bout my mama?
I am gangsta.
My amazing rap skills make me gangsta. My ten inch Wustoff Chef's Knife makes me gangsta. My ability to put away a pound of bacon like no other bitch this side of Lake Michigan most certainly makes me gangsta.
Read more! »
Read more:Gangsta
We Love Deez Hoes! Or Welcome back to Chicago, Leena! 2008-06-30 16:14:13 Welcome home to the land of fat people and little portion control, Leena!
It all started with the Danny I-Tannery. I knew after the long trip home from Australia to Chicago
, the only thing I would want to do was chill with my closest friends that I hadn't seen in a year and a half. And eat. A lot. Preferably in Chicago. My food twin, Bobby, decided to host a weekend at his place, and after a bu Read more:Welcome
Chicago + family = chili 2008-06-23 22:19:13 Trivedi Family French Bread, rising like only it knows how.
When I arrived in Chicago
in the beginning of May, it was gorgeous, perfect 75 F weather (24 C), the skies were sunny and the grass was green. Two days later, it was cold and miserable. The weather dropped nearly twenty degrees, it was raining all the time, and of course, windy. It was like Chicago was saying, "Welcome home, Leena.
U.S. Food Blog Survey Results! 2008-06-20 22:06:56 A few months ago, I put up a survey about US food blog users as part of the research for my dissertation to earn an MA in gastronomy. You might remember the survey from such great posts as this one and this one.
Well, I have officially finished the dissertation and am currently awaiting my grade. I moved from Australia back to Chicago, and now that I am settled in the city of wind and hot dog Read more:Food Blog
Ribfest Lincoln Square (Vegans beware!) 2008-07-09 20:50:58 Would you like some rib with that rib, ma'am?
South Australia is known as "the festival state", and indeed, during my time living there I encountered at least one festival just about every other weekend. Festivals for wine and for Koreans, festivals for cheese and for Italians, African festivals, food festivals, the Festival of Ideas--these Aussies seem to throw a party every time someone sneeze Read more:Lincoln
, Square
Spoon Thai 2008-07-08 10:15:38 hàw mòk plaa dùk (tham eng): steamed Catfish and coconut milk “custard."
Okay. You know the deal by now. I'm Leena. I eat way too much. I could come up with cute little intro about how many good things I have heard about Spoon
Thai over the years but never tried it, so I just figured I had to now, but you are smarter than that. You don't need me to do that. You need me to ea
Southport Grocery and Cafe 2008-07-07 10:54:24 If this picture doesn't make you hungry, you are not my friend.
Once upon a time, I got married. I was searching high and low for the perfect wedding cake, and, you know, one that didn't cost more than the dress (in my case, the wedding sari). Then I walked into the magical world that is Southport Grocery
and Cafe and tasted their vanilla cupcake, which you may remember from this post. It is so
Chestnut beats Kobayashi in Five Dog Eat Off! 2008-07-04 13:29:55 I believe Americans became independent from England so they could enjoy freedoms like eating chili dogs and, you know, food with flavor.
God bless America. No other country would celebrate their independence with a gastronomic orgy such as Nathan's annual Hot Dog Eating contest (held every 4th of July). It rocks my mind to think I live in a country where competitive eating is an actual sport th Read more:Chestnut
, Kobayashi
The Hopleaf Bar 2008-07-01 16:02:02 The Hopleaf: making the world rock one frite at a time.
I love a good gastropub. There is just something about consuming massive quantities of beer and cider with delicious, high-quality pub food that really gets my motor running and fuels me enough for a road trip to Tijuana. The Hopleaf Bar is a place I used to frequent in my old hood, pre-Australia trip. They specialize in great beers, both d
A girl and her cheese (and a meme) 2008-07-29 14:07:13 Ah, smoked chipotle cheddar. Five pounds of dairy product just doesn't get better than this.
Like any good Midwestern gal, I love cheese. In fact, at one point in my life, 90% of my cooking involved cheese products of some sort (coincidentally enough, this was the same time my ass started to looked like it was smuggling a wheel of Parmesan all the time). Now that I've been through a few twelve s
Crispy Bacon and Jellied Fish Eye 2008-07-23 11:53:00 It's crispy, crunchy, slightly salty, a bit smoky, really savory and totally umami on your tongue. It comes from a pig, tastes great in dinner or dessert, and makes Jewish people really uncomfortable. It's crispy bacon, my idea of the perfect food.
It is jiggly, gooey, and sometimes served cold. Think Jello, only fish-flavored, and the unmistakable feeling that someone is watching you eat. It sh Read more:Crispy
, Bacon
Eating Locally in Chicago: The CSA Experiment 2008-07-22 10:29:45 My haul from Stanley's, $18 total in early June 2008. No organic food whatsoever.
Australia spoiled me. Over the year and a half I lived in South Australia, I had the joy of eating the freshest, most delicious and colorful produce ever. There was a giant, covered farmers market in the center of Adelaide called the Central Market, so I not only had amazing produce close by all year round, but I h Read more:Chicago
, Experiment
No title 2008-07-16 13:05:54 Whole roasted snapper "picatta" with fried capers, herbs, butter and lemon at Avec.
If you were to ask me what my favorite restaurant in Chicago was, I would say Blackbird, hands down, no hesitation whatsoever. Blackbird restaurant is located in the West Loop of Chicago, and it focuses on locally produced, seasonal cuisine that is so unbelievably delicious, it makes me want to cry a bit thinking
Canning: Not just for your Grandma anymore 2008-07-30 11:17:05 A little canning never hurt nobody.
Would someone please tell my friends and husband that it is perfectly normal for a 27 year old woman to like canning food? And that it does not mean she is a senior citizen? So what if I happen to enjoy the art of preserving food and a good game of bingo...dinner at 4pm...high-waisted pants with an elastic stretch waistband...oh shit.
Read more! »
Read more:Grandma
Crispy Bacon and Jellied Fish Eye #2 2008-09-03 12:24:52 Welcome to another CrispyBacon
and Jellied Fish Eye post, where I post about my current favorite food news (which I love, like crispy bacon) and my least favorite food news (which is similar jellied fish eye, which makes me vomit a bit in my mouth).
Shall we do it to it?
Crispy bacon #1 : Mommy's Time Out Wine
No wonder my mom was always so giddy.
Read more »Original post blogged on b
Getting chunky: Farm dinner at Lula Cafe 2008-08-28 08:06:20 I met up with an old friend for dinner, and we wanted to check out Lula Cafe's Monday night farm dinner. My photos sort of suck, but the food was so delicious, I just wanted to do a quick post about it. You might remember Lula Cafe from this post. Their brunch is amazing, pretty much one of the best I have ever had in Chicago. Their dinner menu always looks equally delicious, but a bit more out of
Bread Porn: Alton Brown's Focaccia Bread 2008-08-19 14:12:23 Leena's kick-ass rosemary, garlic and sun dried tomato focaccia bread.
I often forget that I know how to cook and bake. You ever do that? I'll just be sitting there, craving a nice hunk of focaccia bread that is crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside, and with just a hint of seasoning, and I'll spend hours trying to figure out where to buy such an item. Then it hits me--didn't I pay some peop Read more:Bread
, Brown
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