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Jun. 5th, 2011 02:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cblj_backupI am home!
If it seems like I've been to a lot of museums and events lately, it's all part of Sam's Plan Not To Be Such A Fucking Shut-In Anymore. Even when it's a zillion degrees out. Besides, usually something funny happens, like today, when I encountered The Scallop That Wasn't.
I was going to go to Dose Market, but I decided I didn't need to pay $10 admission to be sold overpriced artisan groceries. So instead I ran down to the free model city displayed by the Architectural Society, which I have to say is nice but less impressive than I was expecting. But it was kind of cool to look at it and find my building, and the corncob buildings, and all the rest. Plus they had an old outdated model which was interesting to compare to my mental map of the modern city.
It's right near the Art Institute Museum, and I thought I could really use to look at some statues while being air conditioned. So I went and said hi to "my" Ganesh and to La Grande Jatte, and sat in the Ando Gallery for a while, and then went down to the North Terrace for lunch. If you have a few bucks to spare and you're at the Art Institute in the summer, you can't beat the North Terrace for a meal -- you sit outside around a gorgeous fountain populated by ducks, and the food is nicer than the cafeteria (which is no slouch) and cheaper than Terzo Piano, the superfancy restuarant on the third floor of the modern wing.
The selections are slim -- four or five salads and a handful of hot dishes -- but everything is delicious. I had creamy grits with white cheddar and tomato compote, served with sauteed shrimp and mini chive biscuits.
My one mistake was not examining some of the food more closely.
I thought they'd given me a bonus seared scallop, because it was white with a dark caramelised underside and it was sitting next to the shrimp. It was smallish, so I forked it into my mouth and on the second bite realised it was not, in fact, a scallop. It was a pan-seared cippolini onion.
Now, if you're going to eat a whole onion, a smallish cippolini is probably a good one to eat. It's sweet and not too strong. At the same time, I can't in good conscience recommend eating an entire onion of any kind, especially if you are expecting it to taste like scallop.
Other than that, however, the meal was delicious. And I managed to get the taste of onion out of my mouth by dessert, which was a chocolate panna cotta served with chocolate crumbs, raspberries, and mint leaves. I don't even know what a panna cotta is, actually, but from now on I'm a fan.
And now I am home, having satisfied my requirements for not being a shut-in today by flirting with the waitstaff at the North Terrace.
If it seems like I've been to a lot of museums and events lately, it's all part of Sam's Plan Not To Be Such A Fucking Shut-In Anymore. Even when it's a zillion degrees out. Besides, usually something funny happens, like today, when I encountered The Scallop That Wasn't.
I was going to go to Dose Market, but I decided I didn't need to pay $10 admission to be sold overpriced artisan groceries. So instead I ran down to the free model city displayed by the Architectural Society, which I have to say is nice but less impressive than I was expecting. But it was kind of cool to look at it and find my building, and the corncob buildings, and all the rest. Plus they had an old outdated model which was interesting to compare to my mental map of the modern city.
It's right near the Art Institute Museum, and I thought I could really use to look at some statues while being air conditioned. So I went and said hi to "my" Ganesh and to La Grande Jatte, and sat in the Ando Gallery for a while, and then went down to the North Terrace for lunch. If you have a few bucks to spare and you're at the Art Institute in the summer, you can't beat the North Terrace for a meal -- you sit outside around a gorgeous fountain populated by ducks, and the food is nicer than the cafeteria (which is no slouch) and cheaper than Terzo Piano, the superfancy restuarant on the third floor of the modern wing.
The selections are slim -- four or five salads and a handful of hot dishes -- but everything is delicious. I had creamy grits with white cheddar and tomato compote, served with sauteed shrimp and mini chive biscuits.
My one mistake was not examining some of the food more closely.
I thought they'd given me a bonus seared scallop, because it was white with a dark caramelised underside and it was sitting next to the shrimp. It was smallish, so I forked it into my mouth and on the second bite realised it was not, in fact, a scallop. It was a pan-seared cippolini onion.
Now, if you're going to eat a whole onion, a smallish cippolini is probably a good one to eat. It's sweet and not too strong. At the same time, I can't in good conscience recommend eating an entire onion of any kind, especially if you are expecting it to taste like scallop.
Other than that, however, the meal was delicious. And I managed to get the taste of onion out of my mouth by dessert, which was a chocolate panna cotta served with chocolate crumbs, raspberries, and mint leaves. I don't even know what a panna cotta is, actually, but from now on I'm a fan.
And now I am home, having satisfied my requirements for not being a shut-in today by flirting with the waitstaff at the North Terrace.
no subject
Date: 2011-06-05 08:48 pm (UTC)