Moto

La segunda parte de la celebracion del 30 cumpleaños de Thomasito llego el martes. El sabia que ibamos a cenar a algun sitio y tenia varias ideas, pero por suerte supe despirtarle. El creia que ibamos a un restaurante en el que primero dan una clase sobre como cortar las distintas partes de un animal, jaja! Estilo carniceria y luego te preparan el corte que desees para cenar. A el le gusta, pero no me parecio muy romantico, jejeje!

Puesto que nos encanta la comida y los buenos restaurantes, ya sean caros o baratos, pero buenos y por otra parte, nos encantan los sitios tradicionales y los modernos, esta vez me decidi por sorprenderle llevandole a "Moto", un sitio que combina el buen ambiente, la modernidad, el diseño, el buen sabor y preparacion y la cocina molecular.

The second part of Thomas' 30 birthday was last Tuesday. He knew we were going somewhere for dinner, but I knew how to confuse him. He thought we would go to a place where some butcher classes are held before dinner. They taught you how to cut the animal and then you can get your favorite part and get it done for dinner :) He likes that but I didn't think it was very romantic :)

We both love food and nice restaurants. We don't care if they are cheap or expensive as long as they are good and food is nice and well prepared. We like traditional style and modern, but this time I decided to take him to "Moto", a place where good environment, modernity, design and good flavors are combined with molecular cooking.

http://www.motorestaurant.com/

Los exteriores del restaurante no invitan a ir por esa zona, pero en mitad de un mercado a las afueras de la ciudad se encuentra este sitio maravilloso y su restaurante hermano "ing".

Llegamos puntuales a nuestra cita, fuimos recibidos con una copita de champan para celebrar el cumpleaños y despues nos presentaron el menu, que consistio en 15 platos para probar todo lo que alli se prepara esta temporada.

El menu no se lee en la carta, sino que se muestra en un plato que contiene pequeñas porciones de los sabores que se van a tomar en los siguientes platos: tofu, palomitas de maiz, coliflor, espuma de marisco, melocoton, setas, judias,  aceitunas, cafe, bacon, mantequilla de cacahuete y fresas.

The location of the restaurant is kind of weird since it is in the middle of an industrial area, with market stores, trucks and so on, but in the heart of the place you can find this wonderful restaurant and its brother restaurant "ing".

We arrived punctual there and we were received with a glass of champagne to celebrate the birthday :) After this our waiter told us about the menu, consisting of 15 courses :) The first one just a sample of each of the main flavors of every course: tofu, pop corn, cauliflower, seafood foam, peach, mushroom, beans, olives, coffee, bacon, peanut butter and strawberries.

Thomas con su plato de muestra de sabores :)

El primer plato fue "Dim Sum", yo lo conozco como las tapas al estilo chino. Se sirve en el tipo de recipiente que veis en la foto y consiste en pequeños bocaditos salados, pastelitos al vapor, pescado, etc. En este caso teniamos un panecillo al vapor buenisimo, pescado al centro, sashimi y tartar y en el tazon habia te de jazmin frio, lo sirvieron jugando con la magia del nitrogeno liquido :) Nosotros estamos acostumbrados a verlo, pero para alguien que no lo esta, la verdad es que sorprende.

The first coarse was "Dim Sum". I call it the Chinese tapas. It is served in this round baskets you see in the picture. It consists of several bites of savory stuff. Ours had a steam bun, sashimi, tartar, a dumpling and in the bowl, cold jazmin tea served in a cloud of liquid nitrogen :) We are used to see it, but for people who are not it can be pretty surprising.

Dim Sum

El segundo plato fue "Crudites". Toda clase de verduras preparadas de distintas formas, estaban crudas, pero especiadas de distintas formas y con diferentes texturas. Habia unas 10 cosas diferentes en el plato, incluidas verduras congeladas y secas, pastelitos que explotaban en la boca, texturas crujientes, frescas, uno de mis favoritos de la noche.

The second course was "Crudites". All kind of veggies prepared in different ways. Most of them were raw but with different spices and all of them with different textures. There were around 10 different things on the plate, freeze dried veggies, little cakes which exploded in our mouths, crunchy stuff and all very fresh. One of my favorites of the night.

Con mi plato de crudites. With the crudites.

Seguimos con un plato llamado "Reconstructed corn" o "Maiz reconstruido". El plato tenia tres componentes. El que tiene Thomas en la mano parecia una mini mazorca de maiz, pero ahi venia la reconstruccion. La mini mazorca tenia helado de maiz y alrededor copos de maiz liofilizados y tostados que estaban pegados al helado. Estaba buenisimo. Al centro tempura de calabacin y en el otro extremo una tartita de queso con maiz. El sabor de esta ultima era muy especial, delicioso.

We continued with the "Reconstructed corn". The dish had three components. The one Thomas is holding looked like a corn cob but it wasn't. It was a corn ice cream in the core surrounded by lyophilized and toasted corn that was stuck to the ice cream. Very good! In the middle there was zucchini tempura and on the other side a corn cheese cake. This last one was very special, delicious!

Corn Reconstruction

Despues del plato de maiz seguimos con una evocacion al fondo del mar :) Un platito de marisco, no muy grande. Una ostra, un trozo de langosta cocinado con mantequilla y un mix de caviar y vieiras. Por supuesto todo servido fresquisimo con nitrogeno liquido :)

After the corn we had a bottom sea remember :) A small seafood plate. It had an oyster for each, a piece of butter baked lobster and a mix of caviar and scallops. Everything was served super fresh thanks to the liquid nitrogen :)

Marisco. Seafood.

Un pequeño jardin zen fue el siguiente plato, que tenia una gran parte de diseño, pero buen sabor al mismo tiempo. Como veis en la foto el plato tenia una base de queso y algo crujiente y desmigado y encima habia "plantas" y "piedras". Las primeras eran coulis de melocoton y menta y las piedras eran lo que ellos llamaban "queso experimental" hecho con queso azul cubierto de canela y chocolate.

Aunque era muy original, el sabor no fue mi favorito. El plato estaba servido con un pequeño rastrillo para trabajar en el jardin, jeje!

A little "Zen garden" was the next course. It had a big part of design but good flavor at the same time. It had a base of cheese and fennel seed and plants and stones on top. The plants were peach coulis with mint and the stones were made out of "experimental cheese", which was blue cheese covered with cinnamon and cocoa. Even though it was very original, it was not my favorite. The plate was also served with a small tool to work in the garden, hehe!

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Jardin zen. Zen garden.

Continuamos trasladandonos a un bosque. El plato estaba servido en un palo, si señor! Habia toda clase de setas cocinadas de distintas formas. Todo ello acompañado de polvo de guisantes liofilizados (congelados a alto vacio). 

We moved to the forest for our next plate "Forest foraging 2.0". The food was served on a small trunk with many kinds of mushrooms cooked in different ways together with powdered freeze dried peas.

Algunos de los platos tenian un componente aromatico, como esta ensalada de vino tinto. Primero nos trajeron estas ramas a la mesa, yo me perdi el olor gracias a mis polipos...El olor se acrecento una vez quemaron las ramas con un soplete :) A continuacion, sirvieron la parte comestible del plato con remolacha en una reduccion de vino tinto y trocitos de bacon con algo crujiente al lado, que no me acuerdo lo que era, demasiadas cosas!!

Some of the plates had an aromatic component like this red wine salad. They brought these branches to our table and the burned them with a torch to get the smoky aroma (I couldn't smell anything at all thanks to my polips). The food was served next. The plate had red beets with a red wine reduction and bacon. There was a crunchy thing on top which I don't remember exactly what it was...

Red wine salad. Ensalada de vino tinto.

Llegados a este punto nos adentramos en un plato mas carnivoro :), se llama "Cassoulet" y es una especie de representacion de un guiso de judias blancas y carne. Las judias y la carne estan en la brocheta, todo cubierto de queso, riquisima! Iba a compañado de pan y para untar, mantequilla mezclada con el tuetano, estaba muy rico.

We moved on to a more carnivore dish :) Cassoulet. It is their own version of a bean stew. The beans and the meat are in the skewer, covered with cheese. Delicious! In the center, toasted bread and a spread of butter and bone marrow, very good.

Cassoulet

Antes de llegar a los postres nos sirvieron el plato llamado "Spring lamb". Me hubiese gustado tener una foto de mi cara cuando vi el hueso y el hacha, jajaja! Sobre el hueso hay carpaccio y bacon de cordero. En el hacha habia pate y salchicha de cordero y carne a la brasa, de cordero tambien :)

Before dessert we got the plate called "Spring lamb". I wonder how my face looked like when the waiter showed up with a huge bone and an axe, hehe! On the bone we had lamb carpaccio and bacon. On the axe there was pate, sausage and braised lamb meat :)

Con mi hueso y mi hacha. With my bone and my axe :)

Por fin llegamos al postre. Cinco sorpresas nos esperaban. Si veis la primera foto, todo parece un normal servicio de cafe, pero la realidad fue distinta. La taza de cafe tenia helado de calabaza con pipas tostadas,  platano caramelizado y una capa de cafe glaseado, de ahi la apariencia de cafe. Al lado habia una lechera que contenia espuma de lima. En el centro, dos caramelos de frutos secos para endulzar la mezcla. Habia que unir todo en la taza y mezclarlo, quedando el postre como un parfait. Este plato me encanto, cada bocado tenia un sabor distinto, delicioso.

We made it to dessert. Five surprises were still prepared for us. If you look at the first picture, it looks like a normal coffee service but in reality it was something different. There was pumpkin ice cream in the cup with pumpkin roasted seeds and caramelized banana with a layer of glassed espresso. Next to it the creamer with lime foam and in the middle, two candies made of nuts. The purpose was to mix all together and enjoy a kind of parfait. I really loved this dish. Every bite had a different flavor.

Coffee service

El siguiente postre era una variedad de postres hechos con bourbon, algunos de ellos cocktails adaptados a pequeños bocados. Nos sirvieron un helado de bourbon, una tulipa de menta con crema de bourbon, una galleta de jengibre con crema de bourbon y una golosina de naranja con bourbon. Me gustaron todos!! Ademas, iba acompañado de una petaca que tenia una sopa de maiz con aroma de bourbon. Fue tan original!

Next dessert course was a variety of bourbon pieces, some of them cocktails translated to small bourbon bites. They served bourbon ice cream, mint tulip with bourbon cream, ginger cookie with bourbon and an orange jelly with bourbon. I liked them all! Besides, everything was served with a soup of corn with bourbon aroma. So original!!

Bourbon Barrel and cocktails

Llegamos al tercer postre, "la explosion". Necesita poca explicacion. El cilindro estaba hecho de chocolate blanco relleno de una crema de fresa. Al romper el chocolate, el postre explotaba y rezumaba crema de fresa :) Al lado, ensalada de frutas liofilizadas. Muy rico!

Third dessert was "the explosion". It doesn't need a long explanation. The cilinder was made of white chocolate filled in with strawberry cream which exploded out of the cilinder after breaking the chocolate parte :) Next to it a fruit salad with lyophilized strawberries.

The explotion!

Casi finalizando llego el escandalo!! Por favor, mirad la foto. El plato se llama "huele el guante" jeje!! El camarero nos trajo esta urna con un guante impregnado en aroma de vainilla, ahumado :) Se me quedo cara de guante a mi tambien, jajaja! Una vez que nos recuperamos del impacto, nos trajeron la comida: un guante de chocolate sobre una galleta cremosa de frutos secos y whiskey escoces, riquisimo.

The big shock happened at the end!! Look at the pictures please! The plate is called "Smell the glove", hahaha! The waiter brought us this bowl with a smokey glove :) smelling like vanilla. I couldn't believe it, hehe!! Once we recovered from the shock the food was served: it was a chocolate glove on a mix of nuts and Scotch cream. Delicious!

Para terminar nos dieron el menu impreso en una nube de golosina, con trocitos de menta, para refrescar. Todo comestible :) y tan orginal!! La foto esta arriba al lado del guante de chocolate.
Despues de la cena nos trajeron un globo autoinflable paraThomas :) y nos dieron una vuelta por el restaurante y por la cocina. Pudimos ver su linea de gases, la centrifuga, el liofilizador, las plantas que tienen en la cocina, que crecen con el compost que hacen con las sobras de la comida. Todo sorprendente!!! Los sabores estaban bien combinados, nada estridente, si sorprendente y original. El servicio buenisimo, por supuesto y como experiencia estupenda. Si ahorrais un poco, os lo recomiendo para una ocasion especial. A nosotros nos encanto!!
The last dish was a printed menu on a marshmallow on top of mint leaves. Everything was edible. The picture is next to the chocolate glove.
Thomas got a self inflatable balloon for his birthday, hehe!! After that we made a tour of the restaurant and the kitchen. We saw their gas lines, the centrifuge, the lyophilizer and the kitchen. They grow some herbs there with compos made by themselves. Surprising!! It was so original, we had a great time with this celebration. I think he was pretty surprised and he liked it a lot (or else, he is lying).
All the flavors were well combined, the design was exquisite and the service also great. I highly recommended as an experience, not only dining, it is everything there which is so special. I hope you can go there to celebrate a special occasion. We loved it!!

Esta es nuestra foto en la cocina de Moto. Una de las experiencias vividas en Chicago que nunca olvidaremos. Todos estos buenos momentos me hacen pensar que cada vez queda menos para dejar esta increible ciudad, me entristece. Por otro lado, me queda saber que estare mucho mas cerca de mi familia y viviendo con Thomasito muchas mas de nuestras aventuritas :)

This is our picture in the kitchen of Moto. It was one of our unforgettable experiences lived in Chicago. All these great moments make me think that there time in this wonderful city is approaching the end. Makes me sad. On the other hand, I'll be able of being closer to my family, that is priceless and living new little adventures with my love, Thomasito.

Fiesta sorpresa de Thomas. Surprise party for Thomas

El 30 cumpleaños de Thomas era algo que habia que celebrar por todo lo alto, asi que prepare una fiestecita sorpresa en la Universidad con la ayuda de uno de sus compañeros, David. 

La idea era sencilla, hacer algo con la gente de mi grupo y del suyo aprovechando el buen tiempo. Encargue pizzas por la mañana, bebidas y David y yo fuimos en su coche a comprar mas cervecita. Menos mal que pude contar con el!! Ademas, fue tan generoso de comprar toda la cerveza, una tarta de limon y cosas de picoteo. 

Ademas, cuando fuimos al supermercado tambien compramos gorritos de fiesta :) en una tienda tipica americana "The Dollar Store", la version americana del todo a 100 :)

Mande el email de quedada a las 5 y media de la tarde en el patio que hay en el edificio donde trabajamos. Elegi un complice, Sabil, que hablo con Thomas para reunirse y hablar sobre un articulo que estan escribiendo, jeje! Todo mentira, todos los dias se reunen, pero no ese dia!! jaja! Thomas no sospecho nada :)

Un poco mas tarde de las 5:30 estabamos todos alli con nuestros gorros de fiesta y las trompetitas, esperando al cumpleañero. Yo creo que se sorprendio gratamente, esa era la intencion, al menos :) Podeis ver las fotos abajo. Adios!!

Thomas' 30th birthday needed a nice celebration so I decided to prepare a small surprise party at University with the help of one of Thomas' colleagues, David.

It was a simple idea, just having some food and drinks with all our colleagues. I ordered some pizzas in the morning and soft drinks and David was very kind to drive me to the supermarket to buy the drinks. He was amazing and took care of all the drinks, a nice cake and snacks. Afterwards we got party hats and trumpets at a "Dollar store" :) I went there for the first time, hehe! Similar to some Spanish stores with the same concept.

I sent an email to both groups to meet in the court yard of our building at 5:30. I asked one of Thomas' colleagues, Sabil, to help me bringing Thomas to the celebration. They are writing a review paper together so I asked him to "schedule a meeting to talk about the review" with Thomas :) It wasn't true!!! hehehe!

At around 5:40 everyone was at the court yard waiting for Thomas, who hasn't heard anything about it. I think he really liked it, he was surprised and he didn't expect anything at all :) We had a very nice time preparing the party and having fun with our colleagues. You can see the pictures below. Bye!!

Jared, David and Jiwon

Masatomo, Gary, Monica and Ozge

Thomasito con su sombrerito de fiesta :) Thomasito and his party hat

Thomas y yo. Thomas and me

 Adam

Leonel, Jose, Jessica, Andrew, Pepito and Adam W.

Lemon pie :)

Blowing the candles. Soplando las velas.

Christina y yo

Visita de mi prima :) My cousin's visit :)

Este pasado fin de semana ha sido estupendo!! Mi prima Ana estaba en Chicago para asistir a una conferencia de cancer, horrible enfermedad que  necesita mucha investigacion!! Ella es oncologa y presentaba dos posters con su trabajo del hospital de la Paz en Madrid :)

El viernes quedamos con ella en Chicago. Nos encontramos en el edificio Hancock y de alli  nos fuimos a cenar a uno de los restaurantes que Thomas habia elegido al azar. El restaurante esta situado en el hotel "Peninsula". El sitio precioso, un hall gigante con muy buena decoracion, buen ambiente, musica jazz en directo y buen servicio. La comida buena, nada del otro mundo, el precio...caro...en nuestra linea.

Esa noche no hicimos mucho mas, el cansancio de la semana se notaba, ademas del jetlag de mi prima unido a que habia estado de guardia dos dias antes.

Last weekend was awesome!! My cousin Ana was in Chicago for a cancer conference. From here I want to encourage and support all kind of research to fight this illness!! She is an oncologist and she was presenting two posters with her work at "La Paz" hospital in Madrid :)

We met her in Chicago on Friday night. We met at the Hancock building and from there we went for dinner to the restaurant "The lobby" at the "Peninsula" hotel. The place was beautiful, a big nice hall with good environment, live jazz music and good service. The food was good, but nothing special, just normal stuff, not like the price. The place ended up being a bit overpriced for what we ate.

We didn't have more plans for the night. We were tired after the week and my cousin was kind of jet lagged and also she had a 24 hour shift two days ealier.

Mi prima y yo en "El lobby". Se le nota el jet lag :)

My cousin and I at "The lobby". The jet lag was present.

Esa noche dormimos en Evanston en nuestra casa y aprovechamos el sabado para enseñarle el lugar, el campus y nuestros respectivos laboratorios. Thomas estuvo enseñandole imagenes de celulas metastaticas de cancer de mama con el microscopio confocal y mas resultados de su investigacion, mucho mas cercana a ella que mis celulas solares :) Despues comimos en una creperia del centro de Evanston y nos fuimos a pasear por la orilla del lago Michigan. 

We slept in our house in Evanston and we spent Saturday walking around Evanston downtown and showing my cousin Northwestern campus and our labs. Thomas showed her many images of metastatic breast cancer cells taken with the confocal microscope. He also showed her more of his results, which are closer than my solar cell research :) After that we went for lunch to a new creperie in the center and then we walked along lake Michigan shore.

Fotos en el lago. Pictures at the lake.

El domingo fuimos de nuevo a Chicago una vez que las charlas terminaron. Quedamos de nuevo en el edificio Hancock y de alli nos fuimos a comprar un tipico "smoothie" de "Jamba juice". El "Mango-go-go" esta bastante bueno :)

Queriamos ir al centro comercial "The Water Tower Place" a hacer unas compras y por supuesto, a hacernos las fotos en los lugares mas emblematicos de la ciudad.

We went to Chicago again on Sunday once the conference lectures were finished. We met at the Hancock building again and we started our tour after getting a smoothie from "Jamba juice". The "mango-go-go" one is pretty delicious :)

The plan was going first to the mall in "The Water Tower Place" to do some shopping and then walk around the center to take pictures at the most important places of the city.

Con nuestros "Jamba Juice" en la puerta del edificio Hancock.

With our "Jamba Juice" at the entrance of the Hancock building.

En la Torre del Agua. At the Water Tower.

En uno de los puentes por encima del rio Chicago. In oun of the bridges over the Chicago river.

Millenium Park. Concierto de la orquesta sinfonica de Chicago (seccion joven).

Concert of the Chicago symphonic orchestra (young section).

En el "haba" o "Cloud Gate". At the "bean" or "Cloud Gate".

En una de las fuentes mas originales de Chicago. Picture in one of my Chicago favorite fountains.

Terminamos la noche cenando en "The Gage", un sitio muy recomendable. Creo que alli todo esta bueno  :) La cena la acompañamos de vino español y tuvimos suerte de poder sentarnos en la terraza, ya que hacia un tiempo muy agradable.
We ended up the night eating dinner at "The Gage", I highly recommend this place. I think everything there is delicious :) We had Spanish wine and we ate at the terrace thanks to the warm weather of yesterday night.

Ana y Thomas en "The Gage". Ana and Thomas at "The Gage"

Fue un dia fantastico, buen ambiente en Chicago, mejor tiempo y lo mejor de todo, buena compañia. Un fin de semana para recordar. Probablemente sea la unica visita familiar que reciba, asi que habia que aprovecharlo!!
It was a fantastic day, good environment in Chicago, nice weather and the best of all, good company. A weekend to remember. It will be probably the only visit from someone of my family, so we had to celebrate it!!