Pharm Cooking: Chicago is my kind of town especially the food
By LOU GREENHAW
Contributing writer
Three of us from work and our families spent last week in Chicago on business. Chicago is a great place to visit but for me, I wouldn't want to live there — at least, not downtown.
Our hotel was right on the river and half a block from Michigan Avenue and the magnificent mile of shopping. Our meetings were at the Navy Pier which was a pleasant mile and a half walk along the river and a boat dock area. Shuttle buses ran between the hotel and pier but all but one time I walked instead.
The Navy Pier was celebrating its 10th anniversary as a tourist draw and we were privileged to have firework shows and 10 cent Ferris wheel rides. There were lots of great eating stands along the pier but I only succumbed to Italian gelato one time.
We were commenting on the advantage of being a hick in a big city. We enjoyed everything. A couple rode a city bus to a Cubs game. Some in our group had never ridden in a city bus or a taxi. I enjoyed watching the machine that cleaned the sidewalks at the Navy Pier. Another enjoyed watching the way they watered all the flower boxes along the street.
The area of our hotel was an area that is very popular for expensive condominiums. The Sunday paper had a story mentioning that more than 13,000 people lived in those few blocks and that there would be an additional 5,200 by the end of the year. The condos started in price around $300,000 for a one bed room up to the millions for larger ones. So you can imagine how crowded the sidewalks always were and all the people and dogs we enjoyed watching.
We took a lake cruise and enjoyed looking at the big buildings. We were contrasting the skyline of Wichita when we landed to the Chicago skyline. What a difference! Plus, as usual, I loved all the food variety.
We started our trip with deep dish pizza and five of us couldn't eat one large pizza. In fact, we barely ate half. Our lake cruise dinner started with two knives and two spoons to the right of the plate, three or four forks to the left and a spoon and fork above the plate. That is an entire day's amount of silverware at our house.
Many of our meals were buffets and they always had such interesting vegetables. There were lots of yellow and red peppers, yellow squash, zucchini, eggplant, and fresh green beans. That was the best part. In fact, in one of the public parks, the "flower beds" were actually growing vegetables. There were huge heads of cabbage, zucchini, okra, mustard greens, and everything else you could think of only they were arranged as a garden display instead of a garden to supply someone's table. It was really pretty.
I came home to my garden that is producing well. This is a good zucchini year. I am having trouble keeping up and have given a fair amount away. I like to pick them while they are small and that helps me keep up.
I have a collection of recipes that I use to keep some variety on the table but our favorite still remains simply sautéing or grilling them with a little olive oil and basil. Here is a casserole that most kids even like. Of course, they won't like it as well as the ice cream dots or funnel cakes along the Navy Pier!
Zucchini Potato Chip Casserole
1 can cream of celery soup
3 egg yolks
1 pound small zucchini, sliced
2 cups crushed potato chips
Pepper to taste
1 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese
Butter a one quart casserole. Mix the soup and egg yolks well. Place half the zucchini in the dish. Top with half the chips, pepper and half the cheese. Repeat layers. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
