carinvaleeee

Hi,

Just got back from Carnivale's 5th anniversary party...such a hungry hipster scene, might I add. Jamie was nice enough to invite me with her parents and we had ourselves a hipster chic time. Aside from the fact that this was indeed a Brazillian Bar Mitzvah, complete with photo booths, jugglers, fire eaters, and identical twins from the east bank club that Jamie's mom has taken a liking too, the food was really delicious. We got the double order of Kleiner's guac, which was refreshingly spicy and came with unconventional tortilla chips--ie they were not from the tostitos bag like at fridas. We followed that up with the fish tacos and the tasting of 5 ceviches. The tacos were good but the portion size was a bit meager, I guess that's understandable seeing that they were an appetizer. I wish there was some more slaw on top of the fish as opposed to just under it, but the hot sauce that they gave on the side kind of made up for it. The ceviches--tuna, salmon and grapefruit, whitefish, mixed seafood, and shrimp--were presented on ice and in cute little bowls. The tuna was obv my favorite because that's my jam, but I liked the hiramasa one, too. we had mojitos, which normally a hipster would never order in public but I had to because it was Carnivale and it seemed appropriate, and the first one I got was great, the second was a little sweeter and watered down. All in all though, I'm glad that Jamie was nice enough to invite me and I got that restaurant under my new Chicago belt.

Yesterday, I met up with my friend Marissa that I literally haven't seen in five years but who coincidentally lives down the block from me now. We went to Luxbar--another place that I've been dying to go to. We went for lunch...you could probably guess, but I got the seared tuna salad. It was pretty good--I liked that it had ginger on top and some other asian veg, but the waitress got a little sassy with me when I asked for the sesame dressing because the balsamis was actually just oil. Oh well...we're going back next week for Marissa's birthday so maybe dinner will be more exciting.

Something kind of cool---I've been frantically applying for jobs around Chi and I went to an interview for The Florentine, which is a restaurant that BLT is opening here. I didn't know it at the time, but Todd Stein--head chef of Cibo Matto that just left there to open this place--was the one interviewing all BOH positions so I was sitting like right next to him. He's kind of a big deal around here, which is pretty legit of this Hungry Hungry Hipster to be in his direct company. Hopefully I get the job and I'll be able to get on the inside of the operation. Although, it's not looking soooo good because they gave me this insane in the membrane written serving test about italian wines and their prime grape varietals. At Bensi I am able to suggest a bottle of Citra Pinot Grigio to the Marlboro japs, but I could never recite off which is the main grape in each bottle. yikes...there was a question about what food blogs you read daily, and let's be honest I got that question in the bag bitches.

hmmm, what else? I had my real training session on Monday after recovering as much as possible from the fat roll exam, and let's be honest it was difficult! The trainer had me doing circuits which didn't sound so hard, but after a few times through I was dripping in sweat. LIke, I am not kidding, I almost had an illness. THe poor trainer was probably embarrassed for me once he saw how much I lack stamina and endurance (in the gym and the gym only winkface) so he began to do the exercises with me as a basic personal trainer move to keep me going. THe best part though was at the end when he full blast stretched my legs over his shoulder and we got into some compromising positions and I was dying of laughter and he told me to relax. so standardddd. yoga's been going well...someone even asked me how long I've been doing it for because she wanted to be good like I am! (her words not mine...for realz)

About to watch top chef just desserts...let the gay cryingfest recommence. Until next time....

-hhh