Recipe of the Week - Mexican Chili

I tried this recipe tonight and it was actually a hit with the hubby, which is sometimes hard to do! :) It's a great crock-pot recipe given to me by my Occupational Therapy Assistant student who has been with me at work. Hope you enjoy it!

Mexican Chili 

1 can of black beans (rinsed)

1 can of tomatoes with chilies 

1 can of corn or frozen corn

1-2 cans of vegetable of chicken broth

1 Tb of Mexican chili seasoning

I added: 1/2 pkg of vegetarian griller crumbles

You can also add: 1/2 onion

1 clove of garlic

Put all your ingredients in the crock pot. Put on low for 8 hours, or high for 4 hours. Stir occasionally. Enjoy!!

I am linked to Tuesdays at the Table, Tempt Your Tummy Tuesday

Be sure to link up your favorite recipes below and share with the rest of your blog friends!

OT Tip

This week I am going to give you ideas for age 0-2 to develop fine motor skills. As you will recall last time, I gave you a list of what are age appropriate fine motor skills for ages 0-6. Refer to this list if you need a refresher.

So some main things that you want to work on with your child this age is to work on grasping and letting go, turning objects in hand, stacking, threading, drawing with crayons, snapping, buttoning.

Some great times to work on fine motor skills is when your child is in their highchair or during bath time. When babies begin to start eating regular food, giving them small finger foods is a great way to develop their fine motor skills. In the bath, let them fill and empty various containers and spill water. This will encourage them to use their hands to explore things around them. You can use recycled yogurt containers or any small container that you have laying around your house!

Music is a great way to introduce new toys that rattle and noise makers that they can play with to the music. Blowing bubbles and letting them catch or pop them will also encourage them to use their hands.

For smaller infants who maybe aren't ready for these types of activities, tummy time is a great way to encourage using their hands. Stacking blocks, pushing blocks through holes, using rattles and noise toys, and encouraging them to pick up and hold things in their hands.

For more ideas check out this great article on The Baby Corner.

Disclaimer: I am a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant. The advise in these tips is not a replacement for medical advise from a physician or your pediatrician. Please consult their advice if you suspect any medical or developmental issues with your child.   

Chicago Michelin guide retweeted

November 16

The big news in American fine dining today was, of course, the release of the first Michelin guide for Chicago restaurants. 

If you were awarded a star, heartfelt congratulations. If you weren’t, remember, it’s just a guide book by a tire company.

Being the branché hep cat that I am, I had my TweetDeck up and followed yesterday’s apparent leaking to Yelp of the list of restaurants anointed with stars and today’s reaction by its winners.

There’s not much more to say than that, except that one of the two three-star restaurants, L20, recently lost its chef, although perhaps just temporarily, making the brand new book already a bit obsolete. People who know the Chicago restaurant scene much better than I are already doing their analysis, and will likely pillory it the way it was pilloried in New York and San Francisco. 

I think I’ll just let the chefs speak for themselves, as they did through their twitter accounts.

Paul Kahan, whose restaurant Blackbird got a star, but his restaurant Avec did not:

@PaulKahan

Avec?

@Paul Kahan

In the begining, they didn't understand the clash either. Avec rules.

Curtis Duffy, whose restaurant Avenues got two stars:

@curtisduffy

Feeling for the Michelin Release on Wednesday: excited, enlivened,psyched, edgy, anxious, restless,tense! What will it be?

@curtisduffy 

It's official Avenues gets 2 Michelin Stars! Thank you to my team from the past and the present! Amazing!

Grant Achatz, whos restaurant Alinea got three stars:

@Gachatz

What does it mean when Jean Luc Naret films NBC news show from your dining room on the morning of the release? I guess we will find out...

@Gachatz

True??? How do they deal with chef Gras' departure? http://tinyurl.com/2b239xz

Graham Elliot Bowles, whose restaurant graham elliot got a star:

@grahamelliot 

My name may be on the door but this star belongs to the GE team. From chef de cuisine to dishwasher, sommelier to busser...job well done XO

@grahamelliot graham elliot

Congrats!! Official 2010 Chicago Michelin-Starred Restaurants http://bit.ly/9cgSfK

@grahamelliot graham elliot

Graham Elliot Spoofs Jean-Luc Naret on His Voicemail eater.cc/akYZrb via @EaterChicago

NoMI restaurant, which got a star:

@NoMIchicago

Thank You! We are very excited! RT @Audarshia CONGRATS to @NoMIChicago for its one star @MichelinGuidechi!

@NoMIchicago

RT @JLynnePR Wish I had more than 140 characters to recognize all of the @MichelinGuideCH honorees - Congrats to all. Chicago is very proud.

@NoMIchicago NoMI

Congrats to all! RT @ChicagoCVBPR Congrats to Blackbird, Boka, NoMi, Seasons, Sixteen, Spiaggia, Topolobampo, Tru, Vie, NAHA for a star!

  

Carrie Nahabedian, whose restaurant NAHA got a star:

@cnaha

Michelin Guide Chicago winners appear to have been leaked | Consumer | Crain's Chicago Business shar.es/0N3vK

@cnaha

Great 10year anniversary gift. A Michelin star and a phone call! Congrats to all our friends, it is such an honor. LOVE our NAHA staff! Xox

RT @MichaelNagrant

I've been tough on Charlie Trotter over the years, but most of these Michelin stars don't exist without him and Jean Banchet. Bravo.

@cnaha

is having a glass of Champagne.

The usually twitter-loquacious Rick Bayless, whose Topolobampo got a Michelin Star, and which also recently got a three-star certification from the Green Restaurant Association, actually was pretty succinct: 

@Rick_Bayless 

Thanks!! T @GreenChicago: A Michelin Star AND Guaranteed Green - CONGRATULATIONS @619blackbird and @Rick_Bayless!!!

@Rick_Bayless

Thanks to all of you who've sent your congratulations on Topolobampo's star from Michelin. Needless to say, our staff is really proud!!

 And finally Paul Virant, whose restaurant Vie got a star.

@jarstarvie

Alright, Facebook friends! It's official!! Chef Paul Virant just received the good news: Vie has been awarded a... http://fb.me/Es8uaWlH

@jarstarvie

We're so excited to be included in the very first Michelin Guide for Chicago! http://fb.me/Er5p7wAM

@jarstarvie

We knew our staff was the best, but it's nice to know that others agree! Congrats to the whole crew on the... http://fb.me/Leht3we3

@jarstarvie

What do you say? Chef Paul Virant for Mayor of Western Springs??

RT@alpanasingh Alpana Singh

@jarstarvie I worked w/Paul and would 2nd that! One of the nicest, most thoughtful human beings put on this earth. Whole family is great.

RT@ChicagoBites Chicago Bites

[Post] Michelin: Comparing ratings from around the Web http://bit.ly/co5TVK

@jarstarvie Paul Virant

If you're interested in buying the Michelin Guide, it will be available 11/18. http://fb.me/AVKGNipC

And for the record, the winners:

Three stars:

Alinea

L2O

Two stars:

Avenues

Charlie Trotter’s
Ria

One star:

Blackbird


Boka


Bonsoirée

Crofton on Wells


Everest


graham elliot


Longman & Eagle


NAHA


NoMI


Schwa


Seasons


Sepia

Sixteen

Spiaggia

Takashi

Topolobampo

Tru

Vie






Welcome to Murcia! (part I)

So, I'm bak from Murcia! It's been a GORGEOUS weekend. I've met lots of awesome people and have a lovely time with my friends. We played the lolita-zombie all the time (moving like a zombie but dressed like a Lolita) and danced while we were working!

(Our trip here)

Our trip begun last wednesday, when Den picked us up to Murcia.

T-shirt - Pull & Bear

Cardigan - Zara

Skirt - Sonia Rykiel pour H&M

Tights - H&M

Shoes - Secret Shop

After a hard day working, on Friday we opened the manga convention... and it was so much better of what we had thought!

Vane and Jani, my two mates on the stand!

Early in the morning, the Tv appeared and made me an interview about japanese fashion... and I put a pink cardigan with bunny ears to the reporter!

Then we met Miki, a lovely gal, and lots of people... like Pyramid Head, Axel Roses and Slash, a Silent Hill Nurse, Obama... 

Yes, there was a lovely girl inside the Police Cabin!

but the best ones for me were Jorge, the lovely Madhatter who was such the cutest boy I've ever seen; and all the main characters from Sandman, my favourite comic... I almost cried when I saw them!!

This last picture is from the moment I saw my beloved friend Oct... oh, my, such a cute friday!!

And you, did you had a good weekend? What did you do?

Spicy Caribbean Rum and Pineapple Braised Chicken

This is a dish which first came about when I began wondering why rum is most often used only in the preparation of puddings/desserts. I started thinking about how I could incorporate it in a main course dish and first prepared something like this as a casserole in the oven, where I used whole pieces of chicken, i.e. legs and thighs. I did not use the honey or the chilli pepper on that occasion but the dish was so delicious, I decided to try to develop it and make it a little bit quicker to cook at the same time.

This dish is moderately spicy, so if you do not like spicy food, simply omit the chilli pepper, or remove and discard the seeds and membrane.

Ingredients to Serve Two

1/2 lb filleted chicken breast meat
1 medium onion
1 8oz can pineapple pieces in pineapple juice
3 fl oz Caribbean Dark Rum
1 pint fresh chicken stock
1 tbsp clear honey
1 small red chilli pepper
1 clove of garlic
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tsp cornflour (corn starch)
1 medium tomato
2 basil leaves and two small basil sprigs

4oz basmati rice

Method

The chicken breast should be chopped in to bite sized pieces. The onion should be peeled and quartered, the chilli pepper finely chopped and the garlic clove peeled to be later grated in to the pot.

The honey should be placed in to a large pot and brought up to a moderate to high heat. I am basically sealing the chicken meat in the honey by adding it alone in the first instance. The honey will not seal it so well as oil would but neither will it create oily residue nor crisp parts of the chicken.

The chicken should be stirred around in the honey with a wooden spoon over a high heat until it turns opaque. The onion and chilli should then be added and stirred around before the pineapple and juice, chicken stock and rum are added in that order. (Safety Note: Do not add the rum first - we are not trying to flambe, nor to set the kitchen on fire!) The garlic should be grated in at this point and the heat turned up high to bring the mixture to a simmer. The heat should then be reduced to low, the lid placed on the pot and the dish left to cook for thirty minutes.

When the chicken dish has been simmering for half an hour, it is time to start the rice. The rice should be placed in a sieve and washed under running cold water to remove the excess starch. It should then be added to a pot of boiling, lightly salted water and stirred firmly for a few seconds, then left to simmer for ten to twelve minutes.

When the rice has started cooking, the cornflour should be mixed in to a paste in a small bowl with a little cold water, before being added to the chicken broth. This will serve to help thicken the remaining liquid. The tomato should be cut in to six or eight pieces and also added, along with one of the basil leaves, roughly torn. They should all be stirred through before the heat is turned off and the pot is covered and left alone until the rice is ready.

When the rice has been drained through a sieve, it can be simply spooned on to the plate. I like, however, to line a small bowl with clingfilm, pack the rice inside and then upend this on to the plate. The bowl should lift free fairly easily and the clingfilm can be peeled away.

The Spicy Rum and Pineapple Braised Chicken can then be spooned around the rice. The remaining basil leaf should be torn to garnish the chicken and the two basil sprigs used as a garnish for the rice.