Hello from the future!
At least that is how it feels writing this because when I last wrote it was late-February and my life felt and looked quite different. I’m writing perched from my kitchen island in my new apartment in the South Side of Chicago. I’m noshing on a salad made of leftovers from last night’s Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat extravaganza of a dinner, wherein everything we ate was from the book.
I’m still unpacking, literally and metaphorically, settling into a space that is entirely “my own” (my own, as in shared with Todd and Momo). But what makes it my own or our own is that we own it. During the winter we found a charming storefront-cum-loft-style-apartment on a sunny corner. We viewed it by first placing our faces against the glass, imaging what it would be like to live in a first floor apartment, before visiting again with our realtor and eventually making an offer. We closed on April 1st, and while it was all done off-view from social media and ended on April Fool’s Day, this is no joke! We began moving our things over throughout the month of April, which resulted in me tapering off from cooking and baking as we carefully and sometimes haphazardly boxed up our kitchen and the rest of our apartment making many, many, many trips across the city.
The number one question I get these days is, “So how’s the apartment coming along?” And all I can say is, it’s going. Homeownership is very cool, kind of weird, and involves lots of problem-solving. Each problem that arises is uniquely our own to discover, strategize, throw money at, and eventually solve—in a way that I had never felt in my 11 years as a renter. What I will say is that I love it here. I love that we have a stoop to sit on which I have filled with edible plants and which we sometimes grill from with our trusty Mr. Bar-B-Q. I love that when we need to take Momo out, we simply put on his collar and open the door. I love that the ice cream man comes at the same time every evening, serving up gorgeous flavors like strawberry cheesecake and pistachio. I love that the neighbor we share a wall with is cool and kind, and has a dog that gets along incredibly well with Momo. I love how most everyone says hello when we are stoop-sitting, often chiming in to ask us if we knew that our apartment was once an Italian restaurant for more than four decades. I love that throughout the day, we get wafts of tortilla smells from the El Milagro factory mingled with garlic smells from the neighborhood restaurants making pizza, and pasta, and mouth watering garlic bread.
And wow, do I love my kitchen. Ample counters, a garbage disposal, a dishwasher, a new fridge and microwave, plenty of space to flex and stretch and do massive amounts of food prep. While we are still figuring things out, I’m attempting to get to know the neighborhood and the kitchen with recipes from SFAH. Where can I find kumquats and fig leaves around here? Who’s got the best deals on chicken? What’s the closest grocery store on foot? Who’s got the absolute best produce in the neighborhood? And where are we getting takeout on the nights when we simply cannot fathom cooking or scrounging in the pantry? Todd came home from walking Momo earlier this afternoon with two tamales that he shared with me, and they were divine. We’ve got a taqueria around the corner that makes deliciously good $5 tostadas and another one about an 8 minute walk away that we once stumbled upon in 2019 when we were lost in Pilsen and just needed to get out of the cold November rain. There’s a spot we like for pizza and another spot we love for their cheap burgers and South Side commitment to playing the White Sox with the bar music turned off until the next commercial break. All in all, it’s feeling pretty good here. Good enough to shop, and prep, and cook, and sometimes enjoy our meals from the comfort of the stoop with Momo hoping he’ll catch a bite of whatever it is we are eating.
Last night was Slow-roasted Salmon cooked on a bed of parsley and fennel fronds, topped with Mexican-ish Herb Salsa with a touch of mango, and served with a side of Shaved Fennel and Radishes tossed in a Lemon Vinaigrette. Two things I loved about this meal were that we used the entire fennel in both the salmon and the salad and that when I couldn’t find kumquats at my local Pete’s I free-styled with chopping up frozen mango. Additionally, I had to learn how to use Todd’s mandoline slicer—something I’ve long feared and dreaded—and I ended up with delightfully thin radish slices and a fear well faced.
Some tips for future Sandy: make the vinaigrette and salsa a day in advance so you aren’t stress food prepping after going to the movies and grocery shopping on foot.
A note of gratitude: Thank you to Alessandra for sending me a shipment of olive oil and balsamic from Brightland. I made good use of the olive oil in the lemon vinaigrette last night and it was delicious! Can’t wait to use the balsamic on something special.
More soon,
Sandy
image description: a salmon fillet topped with a mango and herb salsa and a radish and fennel salad are plated on a blue and white ceramic dish. The plate of food is next to a napkin with an orange and silver flatware set and a light cotton napkin. The tablecloth beneath them has a yellow floral pattern.