Looking north from the Art Institute's Nichols Bridgeway 3pm January 3 2010
It started out as a lovely sunny morning for the last day of these holidays which seem to have been going on since before Thanksgiving. We really have to get back and up to speed tomorrow. But for now I am being creative in the kitchen - my board president Dave O'Connor and his wife Judy are coming to dinner tomorrow night, and given the chill outside a classic English stew seems to be in order. This of course is best prepared the day before so that was my early morning task.
The best source for ideas of this kind is the divine Nigella. And so Beef Braised in Beer - or in this case specifically Stout from Yorkshire - is the perfect choice. The recipe is to be found in her How to Eat. You need Stewing beef, prunes(!), onions, carrots, a bottle of John Smith's Stout from Tadcaster (obtainable at Whole Foods) and water. Add Brussels sprouts and a baked potato to accompany and there you have the perfect January comfort supper. Oh - and a botte or two of Châteauneuf-du-Pape will do nicely.
I popped down to the Art Institute this afternoon to see the Arts and Crafts Exhibition - Apostles of Beauty - which I had missed earlier - it ends at the end of the month. Highly recommended. The museum was remarkably quiet today which was a blessing. I was intrigued also by a small exhibition of the work of an industrial designer Konstantin Grcic: Decisive Design. Another pleasure of the kind that one encounters in this splendid museum. Do try to see it if you are there. I want one of the chairs! You can try them out in a special area in the middle.
Thats it for today!
The only problem with watching Nigella on TV is that one can hardly ever remember a thing about the food!
Posted by: Jordan Friedman | January 04, 2010 at 08:45 PM