Pancakes with a side of Bluegrass (and a few Cicadas)

We had a great time at the Wagner Farm Dairy Breakfast.

For parents who tolerate a bit of germ exposure there were animals to pet and even a real, live cow to milk (see left photo).

Germaphobes could send their kids to the clean, air-conditioned museum to try their hand at simulated farm chores such as gathering eggs and milking a plastic cow (right). 

If You give a Mouse a Farm-fresh Veggie

We received our first Fresh Picks order a few weeks ago. Irv and Shelly’s Fresh Picks is like CSA for Dummies. With a true CSA, community sponsored agriculture program, a customer, or shareholder, purchases a season-long share from a local farm or co-op and receives a weekly supply of whatever’s being harvested. Recipients have a general sense of what’s coming in each week’s delivery, but for many, part of the excitement of the CSA experience is the thrill of the unknown.

My life has enough thrills. I am sure that as nice as it might feel to know we are developing a relationship with a local farmer, we’d wind up feeding a portion of our weekly bounty to our compost heap, that is, after watching it slowly rot in the fridge.

So that’s where Fresh Picks comes in. Fresh Picks is like Peapod meets Whole Foods. They deliver farm-fresh (often organic and local) food to your doorstep, but you choose what and how often to order. You can order a la carte (a dozen fresh cucumbers, two containers of goat cheese and some organic bison chili) or pick a produce box similar to what you’d get from a CSA. We tried it last month and loved it. (For the record, I paid full price-out of my own pocket.)

Here’s the run-down:

If you’re gonna order Irv and Shelly’s Fresh Picks, you’d better clean the house, otherwise, when Irv personally delivers your produce you will be forced to stand and chat awkwardly in the doorway as you attempt to block his view of your messy living room.

When you get your box of fresh produce, you are going to want to identify all the items. If you can’t figure out what some of them are, check your invoice. If you still can’t tell your leeks from the green onions from the garlic tops, you will want to consult a book like the Visual Food Encyclopedia.

Once everything is identified, you will want to put all this fresh goodness right in your fridge, but if you’ve got a small side-by-side, you will have to finish the leftovers in order to make room.

While you’re putting it away, you will notice that they’ve sent you the freshest asparagus you’ve seen since you parents grew it in their garden 30 years ago. You will taste it, raw, with no added seasoning, and you will be stunned.

Now that you’ve tasted it, you realize that you must make something fabulous for dinner, right now. Even though dinnertime is in less than 70 minutes and you’ve got to run a carpool soon and you don't even know what to make.

You’re not sure how to combine portabellas, asparagus, leeks (or are they garlic greens?) and the delicious, fresh goat cheese (from a farm in Champaign), so you crack open Farmer John’s Cookbook, ever grateful that even though you didn’t join his Angelic Organics CSA he sent you the book for review, because it's not only fascinating, it's also a wonderful guide for cooking fresh seasonal (Midwest) produce.

Farmer John will inspire you to create a pasta salad that is richer and more complex than your typical steamed carrots/celery/chickpeas/Wishbone Italian deal.

While you are simultaneously grilling, chopping veggies and cooking pasta your phone will ring approximately nine times. The lady whose car you recently scratched will call you to discuss the $500 estimate she received to repair the two scratches the size of a quarter, and then your mom will call you only to say she forgot why she called, then your dad will call you and go on about some new business deal, and then AmVets will call to see if you have anything to donate, next a pollster will call, and finally someone will call asking about tomorrow’s order because a popular caterer has phone number very similar to yours.

As you run, crazed, from the stove to the grill, setting the table with the phone cradled awkwardly between shoulder and ear, you will realize you have to leave for carpool in 10 minutes. But your husband is home and he will volunteer to drive lest he be put in charge of Your Project.

You will finish your project, adding some chopped walnuts and balsamic vinegar to your oh-so-fresh grilled veggies and goat cheese and you will enjoy the most fabulous pasta salad you’ve ever made, or possibly even eaten.

While you’re enjoy your amazing pasta salad, you will be thinking ahead to tomorrow night’s dinner, imagining what you will create with the next part of your order. And you will recall the jar of jelly that came with your order and realize farm-fresh jelly, you have to make fresh bread to go with it.
___

Phew! No wonder it’s taken me a month to gather up the courage to place another order. Still, the experience drove home the fact they we are just not a CSA family…not yet, anyway. (Did I mention the parsnips that never got cooked?)

If you belong to a CSA, I’d love to hear how you make the most of your weekly share!

Birthday cereal: a family tradition since 1993

Peek into our pantry and you'll get a taste of breakfast at Chez Moldofsky. When it comes to cereal we're all about the healthy stuff- Cheerios, Raisin Bran, Life, and when we let ourselves go, a box of Frosted Mini-Wheats.

As a child Cap'n Crunch and Count Chocula were my regular dining companions. Our cereal cabinet was filled with Sugar Pops, Cocoa Puffs, Frosted Flakes, and Lucky Charms (even though we only ate the marshmallows).

I sometimes feel guilty about my kids' wholesome morning diet. So on his birthday, each boy gets to pick out the cereal of his choice- fiber content be damned! Artificial colors? The more, the merrier! Excess sugar- who cares, they're headed to school for the day!

Even at 7 and 9 years old the traditional birthday cereal is still a pretty big deal. As they get older, it's almost sad to see them excited over something that I took for granted...until I remember how many dental fillings I have and how much a certain little person in our house really needs his fiber.

Batter up! Pimp your pancakes at Flat Top Grill: a restaurant review

Flat Top Grill
Reviewed: Lakeview Location
3200 N. Southport Ave.
Phone: 773.665.8100

Maybe you’ve enjoyed Flat Top Grill’s design-your-own stir-fry for lunch or dinner, but now they serve breakfast, too. We were invited to give it a try, so with empty bellies and unkempt hair we headed to their Lakeview location. Adults can eat to their heart’s content for a mere $8.99. It’s only $4.99 including milk or juice for kids ages 4-11, and kids under 4 eat free. Such a deal!

The buffet at the Lakeview location was loaded with mini muffins and fresh fruit with a steaming pot of oatmeal at the ready. But the real excitement here is the choose-your-own-fixins section. In the mood for a healthy veggie and tofu-skin egg white omelette? They’ve got you covered. The kid wants a gummy worm and strawberry pancake? No problem. (Until he actually tastes it, that is).

Our waitress offered helpful, but seemingly complicated instructions given that it was 9:00 Saturday morning and we hadn’t yet started our coffee. Smartypants simplified the concept for me. “It’s like Cold Stone Creamery, but for pancakes instead of ice cream.” I was relieved to find that the process was pretty simple once we stepped up to the self-serve area.

Serve Yourself
First, we loaded up a plate with fresh fruit and returned it to the table so we’d have something to nibble while waiting for our first of several courses. Then we headed back with a mission to help the boys create breakfast combos as unique as their personalities. It’s a given that this involved gummy worms. Splinter balanced his intake of worms with chocolate chips, while Smartypants chose a berry complement (pictured here).

Like my husband, the Flat Top Grill cooks are not very good at reading minds, so after filling our bowls, we chose the appropriate swizzle stick to mark our meal: yellow stick for an omelette, pink for pancake, green for a side of potatoes, etc.

But Let Them Cook

Perhaps because the coffee hadn’t quite kicked in we didn’t realize that the final size of our items, be they pancakes, scrambled eggs or omelettes, would be relative to the amount of fixings we chose. Therefore, we all wound up with HUGE first servings.

Pace yourself, or ask the cook to downsize despite your add-ins, because you definitely want to leave room for an order of French Toast. They use thick Texas toast finished off with cinnamon and powdered sugar and a week’s ration of butter plus your selected toppings. Mmmmm.

The pancakes were also quite tasty--except for the portions with melted gummy worm. Who knew? The omelettes, while hot and satisfying, were not the most delicate examples of that dish.

Entertainment

There’s no official entertainment, but a toddler will delight in watching the cooks do their thing. And then there are the unlimited trips to the buffet….

Bottom line

Flat Top Grill is worth a try whether you’re a regular breakfast out family or just looking to avoid cooking or cleaning up after your first meal of the day. And for only $8.99 it’s easy to feel like you got your money’s worth without going overboard. Even so, it is an all-you-can-eat meal, so play it safe and wear your ‘fat pants’.

Know before you go:
All locations have high chairs and booster seats, but not all have diaper-changing; call before you go, or should I say before your little one goes?

We managed no-hassle street parking in Lakeview due to our early arrival, but we'd love for their Evanston location to fire up the grill for breakfast.

Serving up a taste of Chicago to a famous English Author

Tonight I'm hosting a Mother-Talk literary salon featuring British author and journalist Rachel Johnson. Rachel will be reading from her book Notting Hell, which has just been released in the US.

I'm expecting a combination of friends, fellow bloggers, and even one of my blog readers (don't tell my kids I invited people I've only "met" online!) to be a part of Chicago's first Mother-Talk.
But what to feed the famous British author and my small crowd? The easiest choice is to run to Costco and pick up everything I need in one fell swoop. From wine to one-bite brownies to a bright, beautiful bouquet of flowers, Costco has it all at low, low prices.

Convenience has its own price, though. I recently read about a study in Austin, TX that showed if each household redirected just $100 of planned holiday spending from chain stores to locally owned merchants, the local economic impact would reach approximately $10 million. I don't know how sound the research is or how the numbers truly pan out, but, Costco be damned, I decided to shop local for my Mother-Talk spread. Especially since Isabel Kallman of Alpha-Mom is co-sponsoring the event and providing a generous food and drink budget.

I'm going to serve El Milagro tortilla chips along with fresh salsa and guacamole from Evanston's new mom-and-pop taco joint, Tacos del Lago. I ordered a veggie and dip tray from Marketplace on Oakton, Skokie's go-to store for high-quality, inexpensive produce (now with some organic products, too). I'll also put out some pita and Mediterranean spreads from Pita Inn (along with a few Kosher pita from the North Shore Bakery as my own little statement of Middle East peace).

To satisfy everyone's sweet tooth, I've got chocolate-covered pretzels from Mrs. Prindable's as well as chocolate-covered Rice-Krispie treats and white-chocolate-covered Oreos (see a theme here?) from the Long Grove Confectionery. Both of these companies have outlet shops (in Niles and Wheeling, respectively), which helped stretch my budget.

I caved a bit on the drinks- wine from Trader Joe's and pop from my corner store. But I've also got a case of Goose Island beer and root beer for a little local flavor.

How do you resist the siren song of Costco? What are your local favorites?

Popover for a Sleepover

The boys with the clean house recently popped over to spend the night at our messy place.

Keenly aware of my growing library fines, I was determined to make one last recipe from Bonny Wolf's food memoir, Talking with My Mouth Full, before sending it back. So I recruited some young helpers and we mixed up popover batter, thinking we'd have fresh rolls with our otherwise unremarkable dinner. Then I realized the batter is supposed to set a while before baking...and that they take nearly an hour to bake.

Guess what, guys? We're going to have fresh, warm popovers for breakfast tomorrow!

"When the batter hits the oven heat," Wolf explains, "the liquid sends off steam and the popovers balloon into hollow shells."

Smothered with butter and jam, these magical rolls were a hit with 3 out of the 4 boys. (The 4th is the resident picky eater noted in our Sage Grille review--I'm honored that he even tried a popover.)

Cereality Cereal Bar and Cafe

Cereality Cereal Bar and Café
1622 Sherman Avenue, Evanston
847-864-4400
(Also in Chicago at Wacker and Monroe)

Cereal combos $3.00-$5.00

Imagine heading to 31 Flavors for ice cream only to find they’ve replaced the frozen treats with cereal. That’s Cereality. You get a choice of over 30 cereals (sorry, Smartypants, no Alphabits) as well as a variety of mix-ins and toppings to choose from. They offer dried and fresh fruit, and nuts in addition to melt-your-teeth options that will leave your kids drooling-- candy-coated chocolates, caramel syrup, mini-marshmallows, coconut flakes, pop rocks, and more.

“It feels like you’re at a friend’s house on a playdate,” observed eight-year-old Smartypants. The breezy, casual atmosphere features pajama-clad employees, cool lighting, homey tables, and a cozy lounging area with couches and comfy chairs. Cereality offers wi-fi and two large TVs showing a steady stream of cartoons.

“You don’t have to get all dressed up to go here, but you should still use manners and stuff,” added Smartypants.

Our seven-year-old dining companion, The Virtuoso, agreed. “Yeah, you don’t have to do things like you would at a fancy restaurant, like use a coat hanger, and you don’t have to wear nice clothes, but you still should have good etiquette. And you get to eat while you’re watching TV which you can’t do at a formal restaurant.”

While watching typical Saturday morning fare, you’ll eat a basic serving of two scoops of cereal, one topping, and milk for $3.99. (They also have a small serving consisting of one scoop at one topping for $2.99.) They offer some suggested combos, but you can mix and match as you please.

The cereal is served in stylized Chinese take-out boxes that you fill with your choice of milk- whole, 2%, or skim, with lactose-free and soy milk available upon request. The milk is self-serve which is a bit tricky for the kids. Ask for a cup for the milk, otherwise, you risk adding too much, something that can easily ruin this treat the entire experience.

They also serve smoothies, called Slurrealities. I’m not sure which marketing genius named the drinks after “a watery mixture of insoluble matter (as mud, lime, or plaster of Paris),” but the actual ingredients sound a bit more pleasing to the palate. Take the Bran New Day featuring strawberries, bananas, and orange juice with low-fat yogurt and Quaker Bran. Cereal bars, yogurt-cereal parfaits, and hot beverages including coffee and flavored steamed milk are also on the menu.

When we stopped in for a late morning snack, I had the Bowlful of Cavities the Devil Made Me Do It - Cocoa Puffs and Lucky Charms plus chocolate drizzles and malted milk balls. (pictured) DH had the more sensible oatmeal with apples and almonds. Snuggable six-year-old Splinter, had Rice Krispies with malted milk balls, Smartypants had Lucky Charms with mini-marshmallows, The Virtuoso, had Cheerios with both topping and milk on the side.

Virtuoso said his cereal tasted like the Cheerios he eats at home, but maybe a bit stronger. “It’s hard to explain, but it has more of a full taste, which is a good thing.” Especially since one bowl costs as much as an entire box from the supermarket.

Cereality also sells Sloops™ for about $1.00 a piece. Once your kids get a glimpse of these reusable plastic spoons with built-in straws, they must have one, so plan accordingly.

Cereality’s target demographic is college students who are either feeling nostalgic or have some serious munchies. DH and I felt like it was fun to visit, but we wouldn’t go out of our way to return. They have a diaper changing facility in one of their large unisex bathrooms, so Cereality might be a nice coffee shop alternative—a place to meet some mom-friends while the wee ones color at the tot table, play, or cause a ruckus. Be discreet so you don’t get busted for bringing your own little baggy of Cheerios.

Our young review team gave Cereality a rating of 3 out of a possible 4 Sloops™. The kids welcome the chance to dine at Cereality again. “It’s a good place to come when you have people who like different kinds of cereal.” Ah yes, that old problem.

If someone in your family has a serious cereal jones, plan a weekend getaway to nearby Battle Creek Michigan home to Kellogg’s Cereal City edutainment complex. And while you’re there, stop in at Binder Park Zoo, where you can hand feed giraffes in the morning and then visit the old planes at the nearby Kalamazoo Air Zoo in the afternoon.

Starving children at the Ethiopian restaurant

Addis Abeba
1322 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, IL 60201
(847) 328-5411
Entrees run $10-$15 per person; many vegetarian options

It pains me to make such an obvious and cheap joke, but it's true. We arrived at Addis Abeba after a busy three-hour beach clean-up and the boys were tired and hungry. While waiting for our food the boys were moaning loudly, "We're starving! When is the food coming?"


I'd say it was worth the wait.

We started off with a shorba, a satisfying cold soup made of yogurt, honey, cucumber, and mint. Given that the boys like all of the ingredients I was sure the soup would be a hit, but the "starving children" stopped after only a taste. Oh well, that meant more of the yummy soup for me and DH.

After soup, we moved on to the main meal. We selected the "combos" which allowed us to try small portions of several items. The meal is served on a single platter mesob (traditionally a hand-woven basket, but the large metal substitute is likely more sanitary) and accompanied by a basket of injera, large flat Ethiopian bread. To eat, one tears off a piece of the spongy bread and scoops up the food in small mounds. Once the novelty of eating with his hands wore off and he'd filled his rumbling tummy Smartypants decided he didn't like the food after all. The rest of us enjoyed the whole meal.

Our choices included:

Asa: fish cut into cubes and sauteed in Ethiopian herb butter seasoned with garlic and pepper. I found it a bit salty, but Splinter could not get enough of it.

Yebeg Alitcha: this lamb stew is always a hit.

Yeater Kik Wot: DH really liked this dish of yellow split peas cooked in spicy wot with garlic cloves and cinnamon.

By the end of our meal, the platter was wiped clean and we'd exchanged several gursha by rolling samples of the food in injera and feeding them to each other. According to the menu it's a traditional way of showing somebody that you care.

If you've got adventurous eaters definitely give Addis Abeba a try!

Eli's Cheesecake World: life is uncertain; eat dessert first

Eli's Cheesecake World
6701 W Forest Preserve Drive (Harlem and Montrose), Chicago
(just down the block from the pyramid-shaped building at Wright College)
Specialty sandwiches ($6) in cafe from 11:00 - 2:00

What can we say about this little slice of heaven on Chicago's northwest side? It's not only the world headquarters and bakery for Eli's Cheesecake, they've also got a cafe and store. The boys and I showed up wearing our proverbial critic hats but later traded them in for hairnets to go on the factory tour. We arrived too late for the made-to-order artisan sandwiches like chicken salad with grapes and pecans, but grabbed a decent ready-made Caesar salad to tide us over until dessert. Dessert. Dessert.

I mean, you could come here for a cup of coffee and free wi-fi or to grab a gourmet grilled cheese, but you'd have to be a fool, or possibly a diabetic, to show up at Eli's and not eat dessert. Their cases are overflowing with delicious-looking desserts- and not just cheesecake. They've got eclairs, tarts...I asked my boys to write down the names of one or two of the most delicious-looking items, but they told me that was impossible to choose.

Here's what the world's most ticklish restaurant critics and their friends had to say about Eli's Cheesecake World. (Please note that all exclamation points appear at the request of the boys.)

Eli's is fun! Their cafe is good. They have desserts, sandwiches, and salads. They sell cheesecakes, little cakes, lemon meringue tarts and everything looks yummy.

Six-year-old Splinter says: Out of three thumbs down, I give it seven forks! (I've previously mentioned that we don't yet have a uniform rating system. What he means is that Eli's is more than twice the opposite of bad... in other words- great!)

The tours are cool and fun! And everything smells delicious. Really delicious. A tour guide shows you almost the whole place, but only staying on the path. Sometimes you go into a big freezer (we did this on a previous tour, but not today). The freezer room is for freezing the cheesecakes before they decorate them. The decorating room is cold, but not as cold as the freezer.

The room where they bake the cheesecakes is really hot--over 100 degrees F in the summer. The cheesecakes go on a cool conveyor belt. It is so cool to see them pour the batter and watch the cheesecakes go on the belt. It takes the cheesecake through the 70-foot-long tunnel oven and then up a big corkscrew cooling tower with about 19 curves. Then people take them off pans and put them on racks. Then they go to the freezer room and then the decorating room.

In the decorating room, we saw them making Chocolate-Covered Lava Cake for Wal Mart.

This is a cool tour! But if your brothers or sisters are under five years old, they have to stay home with a sitter.

They make over 100 kinds of cheesecake if you can believe it!

This tour is definitely recommended for kids!

Read Up and Dine Out: The Magic Pan (crepes)

Many moons ago one of my boys picked up a book titled Crepes by Suzette. This fun, colorful book is full of mixed media collages based on photos that author Monica Wellington took on her trips to Paris. Readers follow Suzette as she takes her crepe cart around the city. In addition to a crepe recipe that has become a favorite of my boys, the book has a glossary of French words as well as descriptions of the famous artwork that Wellington alludes to in her collages.

But perhaps you're not up for making crepes. Then by all means, run, don't walk, to The Magic Pan. Remember The Magic Pan from your youth in Chicago? I only recalled the name of this revived Lettuce Entertain You joint. I must not have eaten their food as a child, because their chocolate crepes are unforgettable. Yum! If you are on Weight Watchers you may consider skipping a day or two worth of meals to save your points for one of these. They also offer savory crepes including a pizza crepe that the boys still talk about, but didn't seem to enjoy so much when eating it. The savory crepes seemed very rich; I recommend saving all those calories for dessert.

Since our visit to Magic Pan crepes have become a morning staple in our house. They're a good substitute for pancakes. I even find them easier, less messy, and more versatile than pancakes as you can pair them with a variety of fillings.

For a good dessert crepe, take a single-size Dove Bar ice cream treat (bonbons? I can't think of their name and they are long since devoured) and let it melt in a hot, fresh crepe. Not quite the *magic* of The Magic Pan's chocolate crepes, but a close second.

Indian Garden

Indian Garden
2548 W. Devon Ave., Chicago
Tel: (773) 338-2929 2548

Summary: We recommend the lunch buffet. Full of vegetarian and meat options, it's an ideal way to introduce children to northern Indian cuisine. Plus, kids eat free; You don't have to spend an extra $10 or so just to learn your kids don't like it.

Rambling version: On the children's CD NO put out by They Might Be Giants there's a song about John Lee, super taster, a real-life superhero. A man who can't drink coffee or beer for their bitter tastes, but loves sweet treats like ice cream and pie. "John Lee, supertaster, tastes more than you do. Everything has a flavor, some flavors are too much." I instantly recognized myself in the song. I am a supertaster. As such, I'm very sensitive to strong, bitter tastes and even the slightest hit of hot spices can set me off.

Granted, I come from a home in which the most exotic spice to grace our food was sea salt. When I was in college and overheard someone in the dorm cafe ask for pepper I was stunned. I always thought pepper was on the table just to keep salt company. In my 18 years, I'd never actually seen anyone use it. So ultimately, my sensitivity to spices is an unfortunate combination of nature and nurture. Unfortunate because DH loves spicy food. On our second date, he took me for some exotic, cuisine. It was hot and spicy and I couldn't handle it after about two bites. DH was incredibly disappointed in my lack of fortitude; I didn't sleep with him that night either. Frankly, I'm not sure why he even asked me out again.

The other day our family had a lovely trip to Devon Avenue and stopped to eat at Indian Garden. The lunch buffet was about $9 per adult and kids ate free-what a deal! And while the smells were enticing and the food was tasty, I just couldn't hack it. I mostly stuck with the nan (bread) and water.

"Are you okay?" My friend asked midway through the meal, "Your face is all red."

"You should feel her nose. It gets really cold when she eats spicy food," volunteered DH as he closed in to touch it. "And when our mom eats spicy food her nose sweats," the boys giddily announced to the entire restaurant.

No one said being a superhero was easy.