Planting Tips, Korean Food Meets Polish Food, Rubbing Elbows with Top Chef Stars & Eating Fried Chicken ~ The Tipsy Weekly Wrap Up

May 21, 2018thetipsyhousewife

This past week was a good one. I stayed close to home, checked out some, “new to me” places in my neighborhood, planted some flowers for my boss and of course spent the day with Original Tipsy last Sunday for Mother’s Day. Read through for a recap of my week including some great recipes I made and some new “Tipsy Approved” recommendations.

Sunday

Mother’s Day! Original Tipsy and I spend a lot of time together so we usually don’t feel the need to go over the top on Mother’s Day, plus we were going to the restaurant show later in the week. We wanted to surprise my Grandma with a canary for Mother’s Day, which can be hard to find, so we decided to shop for the canary and just grab some pie at Hoosier Mama.

We ended up finding out that one of the best pet shops, Thee Fish Bowl, in Evanston, carried Canaries so we decided to go there and check out their selection. The staff was super helpful and they had everything we needed. Canaries are surprisingly hard to photograph so I don’t have a picture for you of the new guy, but I can assure you that he us super sweet and a great singer. Thee Pet Shop is a great place to peruse, little ones would especially love it. They have tons of fish and birds and cute fluffy rabbits!

Original Tipsy and I also went to our favorite, Hoosier Mama Pie and Dollop Coffee in Evanston for a couple of slices of pie and some strong coffee, as it was a late night, the evening before. She had a chocolate merengue and I had a classic buttermilk pie which has a slight lemon flavor. Both were delicious.

Monday

I typically recipe develop on Monday’s for the week ahead. This involves shopping for the food, preparing the dish, photographing the process and the finished product and writing the recipes. This week I created three recipes for the blog. I had a lot of produce on hand thanks to Imperfect Produce and my delivery was coming that day so I wanted to use up what I had on hand. I made a few easy dishes that were full of veggies. Check out the recipes below, you can click on the name of each dish for the full recipe.

Oven Roasted Tomato and Kale Pasta

Bacon Fat Roasted fingerlings Potatoes

Baked Eggs with Kale in Portobello Cups

Tuesday

It was a gorgeous day and I had the little guy with me so we decided to take a ride to my neighborhood, Rogers Park to do some exploring. I was hosting a giveaway this day with Paul Wayne Cookies and I couldn’t stop thinking about those cookies. *Use my code TIPSY15 for a discount. I had run out and was told by Paul that Roger’s Park Provisions sold them, a place I had never been, so that was our first stop.

Roger’s Park provisions is on the lovely Glenwood Avenue that runs alongside the Red Line. Instagrammers who use the hashtag #ihavethisthingwithwalls would love this area because there are so many fun murals to take pictures in front of! Roger’s Park provisions did not disappoint. I can’t believe it took me so long to come here. They indeed had the cookies I was in search of along with wine, cheeses, other gourmet food items and fun hostess gifts! This will be a regular weekly stop for me for sure.

We were hungry after looking at al this delicious food. My friend Briana from one of my favorite blogs/social media A Full Living, has been raving about, Raising Canes forever so we decided to check out the one near the Loyola Red Line stop. Wow is all I can say. The best dang chicken tenders I have ever had. They only have chicken tenders, fries, texas toast, slaw and one kind of sauce. So it’s easy to choose. They also make homemade lemonade which I did not try, but will next time. The little guy and I both enjoyed our lunch.

Tuesday’s tip was how to clean/grow your spice cabinet. You can see the how to HERE on my instagram highlights under “Housewife Hacks”

I made a quick dinner this night that was part of my “Fridge Forage” series. It was a Ham and Mushroom Penne, you can see the video on my instagram highlights HERE, under Fridge Forage.

Wednesday

It was a low-key day and it was cold and rainy. My boss asked me to make her Top Secret Family Recipe for Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup. I can’t share the recipe but I highly suggest googling a recipe and making one yourself. It really hits the spot on a cold day.

The little guy and I also checked out a boba place in Glenview called Liquid Fusion and we enjoyed a great afternoon treat. Boba for me and an Oatmeal Cookie for him.

Thursday

One of the Moms I “housewife’ for is just developing her own green thumb so she asked me to help her pick out and plant some flowers for these super cute new pots she bought at Joss & Main. Below I share a few tips for planting.

Analyze where you are planting and what kind of light it gets. When you shop, make sure you get plants that are suitable for the environment. We were dealing with a shade situation so I got ONLY shade plants. But consider things like intensity of sun when purchasing. For example my deck gets the intense sun in the late afternoon, and no sun during the morning and early afternoon. I used to buy plants for partial sun, but they would burn up. Even though its only a few hours of sun, it so intense, that full sun plants do better. Consider these things when buying plants but frankly, it’s all trial and error. Also when shopping decided on a color scheme and go with 2 to 3 and mix and match.

2. If you have deep pots use rock or bricks to create some air flow in the pots or your roots rot. Also make sure any pots you buy have drain holes and if they don’t, make sure you drill some before filling with dirt. Pro Tip, use Miracle Grow Plant Mix which easily forgives over and under watering.

3. Before planting and removing the plants from their containers, place them in your pots or boxes and arrange them how you want them to looks. Pro tip, the center should be something tall, the edges should have plants that will fall and around the center plants have plants that will fill in and spread out instead of down or up.

4. Finally, plant away, give the pots or boxes a good drink of water and watch them grow!

I also made a quick dinner this night at work. Chicken Tenders from a recipe on the back of a Bisquick box that the kids, and grown ups love. You can find the recipe HERE. They are delicious.

Friday

I spent the day doing things for me. I took no pics, but I got my hair cut and colored at my favorite, Pilorum Salon and Spa and got a mani pedi. Super relaxing day! I was preparing for the BIG SHOW Saturday!

Saturday

I attended the National Restaurant Association Show on a Press Pass with Original Tipsy. I will be writing a whole blog post dedicated to the show but some highlights for you are below!

I visited a Cheese Pavillion and sampled over 25 kinds of cheese.

I saw my favorite girls from Social Sparkling Wine and tried some of their new products.

I ate Matcha Cupcakes made with Matcha Love powder by Swirlz Cupcakes.

I got to sit on stage at the World Culinary Showcase while Top Chef alum, Chris Cosentino prepared Tripe for me two ways! Super awesome experience!

After the show we met my step dad and cousin at Maria’s Packaged Goods in Bridgeport for drinks and some food from their on site restaurant Kimski’s, a Korean Polish mash-up. We had Dressed Up Fries, Dill Potato Pancakes, Pierogis, Pork Belly, Wings and Rice Cakes. I can’t recommend this place enough!

It was a busy week as usual, but a fun one. This week I have some fun new recipes for you, a post about Home Chef coming up and I am attending a dinner crawl hosted by the ever fab, Fab Soo Park. Wednesday, look for a recipe using my favorite Chateau Dumplings and Thursday I have some tips on making the perfect BLT!