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Meez Meals

/ Shane / 3 Comments

I don’t consider myself or Sara to be lucky people (I mean, aside from being born in a country where people are more worried about their cell phone data plan than if they’re going to have anything to eat tonight) (which is actually kind of relevant to this post, now that I think about it). So it is always a pleasant surprise to actually win something.

And that’s exactly what happened a couple of weeks ago, when Sara won 3 free Meez Meals courtesy of the West of the Loop blog!

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, we used to do Dinner by Design and Dream Dinners to stock up food prior to having a new baby. Meez Meals is sort of similar to that, except even better: you get all the ingredients to make a home-cooked meal, but instead going somewhere and assembling the meals, they actually deliver it to your door! (and for roughly the same price)

Some people might wonder why you would pay to have someone deliver food that you then have to make yourself. It’s a valid question, I suppose, but it’s sort of like having all of the upsides of cooking yourself (adjust the salt, add chicken, make it spicier, etc.), without the downsides (chopping all the veggies, having a million different preparation dishes, running out of a key ingredient, etc.). And the food they offer is much more healthful than your average take-out meal.

Some people might also wonder about the price. If you’re cooking it yourself at home anyway, isn’t it a little pricey compared to home cooked meals? Well yes, it is, but it’s not comparable to making dinner at home; you have to compare it to going out to eat. It requires infinitely less effort than planning a meal, shopping for the food, and doing all the preparations.

Still, it’s a fair criticism. It’s not cheap, especially for someone like us who very rarely go out to eat. I wouldn’t advocate abandoning all food-making and only eating from Meez Meals from now on, but I will say that the week we got our 3 free meals, it was a life saver. It could certainly be invaluable now and again. There is no price too high to place for not having to plan meals, and it’s also nice to add a little variety into dinnertime to avoid getting stuck in a rut.

Alas, I wish I could tell you that the food itself knocked my socks off, but I thought it was only okay. However, my main complaint was that a lot of it was somewhat bland, which is probably something I could actually do something about. Oliver, on the other hand, couldn’t stuff spaghetti squash in his mouth fast enough, literally, eventually abandoning the taco part altogether:

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Oh, two more things I want to mention!

First, we saw some complaints that the food comes in a million plastic bags, which was true, and it did kind of drive me and (especially) Sara crazy. Sara boycotts entire brands for using too much packaging. However, we heard that in Chicago the bags are recyclable. We haven’t confirmed that yet, which is why we have a huge stack of what looks like trash sitting next to the dishes.

Second, this email:

We’re Sorry!We’ve heard from some members that the Moroccan Tacos are delicious, but the portion was smaller than we intended.Please have a meal on us next time.  Go ahead and place your next order the usual way, then send us a note with your pick for an extra meal.  We’ll get it all together for you.

How’s that for customer service?? We found the portions were more than generous and had plenty for leftovers, including the Moroccan Tacos. So that was really going above and beyond if you ask me.

So anyway, special thanks to Meez Meals and West of the Loop for hooking us up. We’ll have to do it again some time (I mean, except not for free) (unless you’re open to that, because I would definitely not turn you down).

XOCO

/ Shane / 1 Comment

When it comes time for a birthday dinner, we turn to our favorite Chicago chef, Rick Bayless. This time we tried out Frontera’s little sister XOCO (pronounced “show-co”).

It was perfect! Exactly what we needed.

The food was amazing, and fresh, and unique, but everything was very low key. With the kids, we’re always looking for a compromise between something amazing and something where we’re not going to disturb people. That’s exactly what this was (at least before 5 p.m. on a weeknight). No waiting in line, no waiting for a table, and not many people around to disturb.

We had a couple of tortas (Baja Chicken Torta and Choriques to be specific). I thought they were both good, but the baja chicken was amazing.

(This is not actually what we ate, but I stole these pictures from the XOCO website and beggars can’t be choosers)

Sara had the Carnitas Caldos, which is a spicy soup with pork and avocado chunks. This was also good, but very, very salty.

Of course, in the midst of all this good food, Evie only wanted to eat tortilla chips.

Until dessert that is. We each had a churro and we shared a couple of mugs of their amazing hot chocolate. I don’t say cocoa, I say hot chocolate, because it was like drinking a delicious cup full of melted chocolate bars. It was so rich and thick that I’m really not sure I could have finished a glass by myself. But sharing it was just perfect, and gave us an excuse to try two different kinds. For my money, the almond milk one was better, but everyone else preferred the classic.

XOCO is great if you’re looking for something a little bit quicker and easier than Frontera, and well worth the trip downtown (even if the meter did cost me $3.50 an hour!) Thank you Mr. Bayless for never failing to exceed expectations! (P.S. We finally broke down and bought a copy of Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen, so we can stop checking it out from the library all the time!)

ParkWhiz

/ Shane / Leave a comment

The last final hurrah for jury duty is a site I want to recommend, ParkWhiz.

The site is simple: type in where you want to park and when, and they’ll show you a map of different options and prices. You select the one you want, pay online, and print out your confirmation / receipt. When you show up at the garage, your spot is reserved. Instead of paying, you just give them your receipt and that’s that.

I was veeeery skeptical of this. It just seemed too neat and tidy to actually work. However, I used the service a total of I believe seven times at two different garages over the course of jury duty, and I never had any trouble. Not only that, but I also saved a ton of money! I never paid more than $13 to park in the heart of downtown Chicago, despite a lot of the other jurors paying $25 and even $35 for a day. So if we assume I saved an average of $17 a day, that’s $119 saved!!

If you’re coming to Chicago for the day (I’m looking at you Wisconsin relatives), there’s no reason not to use this site (this is a totally unsolicited endorsement, and I am not receiving anything from ParkWhiz for it. I really just think it’s that good). Get your parking taken care of ahead of time, and not only save money but also the stress of trying to find parking. The confirmation comes with explicit instructions on how to get to the garage, instructions on what to do when you get to the garage (i.e. “Tell them you’ve pre-paid with ParkWhiz”), and even a photograph of what the entrance to the garage looks like.

It looks like they are in a lot of other cities besides Chicago as well. Use them without hesitation!

ThinkGeek, my love for you knows no bounds

/ Shane / 1 Comment

Most catalogs or emails from companies are an annoyance. Maybe you bought one item one time, and now you are forever cursed to receive correspondence from this company. Page after page of crap you don’t want. But every once in awhile, you have a company that is just totally on your wavelength. Every single item is awesome, and receiving a catalog or email from them puts a smile on your face. For me, ThinkGeek is that company (Probably less useful than Sara’s company, which is Boden, and actually sells useful clothes and stuff). Just when I think they’ve exhausted the total list of possible cool items, here’s two totally new items that are totally awesome.

Item 1 – The Panic Button Light Switch

Basically, it’s just a kit to replace a standard light switch with a mad-scientist-laboratory-emergency-cutoff-style giant red button.

It seems so obvious when you see it, doesn’t it? How much more dramatic would turning lights on and off become if you could slap a big red emergency button to perform the task? And you can even turn the button like a dial for a dimmer switch. A little too expensive to actually replace all the switches in your house maybe, but still a great idea.

Item 2 – Scizza Pizza Cutter

Okay, you can’t improve on something as simple and straightforward as the pizza cutter, right? Wrong.

Okay, at first it seems crazy, but bear with me on this one. If you think about a regular pizza cutter, it’s not exactly perfect. First off, we often bake our pizza in a cookie sheet, so I can never cut through the very edge of the crust because the wheel hits the lip of the pan. Then, I have to run the cutter back and forth to get all the way through, but I never quite hit the same line, so I just end up making multiple shallow cuts. So there is some room for improvement, and this design would probably handle those issues. Also, once the pizza finally is cut, I usually turn the pizza cutter sideways and use that as a spatula. So it was particularly brilliant to include a built in spatula on the bottom. Besides, with a regular cutting wheel, cutting on the pan must wear out the blade, right? Another problem solved. Brilliant, top to bottom.

(Side note, literally as I was writing this post, ThinkGeek just emailed me to tell me they had deposited bonus Geek Points into my account. Coincidence? Maybe. Creepy? For sure. I told you they were in my head, they even know what I’m typing!)

Miracle Berry in Restaurant Form

/ Shane / 2 Comments

iNG Restaurant is a new restaurant in Chicago, specializing in synsepalum dulcificum, otherwise known as the Miracle Berry. Billing itself as “the worlds only restaurant that specializes in a flavor changing experience”, the menu is built around the taste-modifying fruit.

My own experiences with synsepalum dulcificum have been documented, and I can tell you it’s pretty nifty stuff. However, as I discovered, you do need to have the right food to make it work right. So there’s definitely something to having a set menu of things that will work well with the fruit. On the other hand, part of the draw is taking something that you know how it tastes, and seeing how it tastes while “under the influence” as it were. But if you’re eating something amazing at a restaurant you’ve never been to before, then you don’t really have that baseline comparison.

Anyway, it’s a cool idea. A little pricey for my blood, since it essentially hinges on a gimmick, but if anybody checks it out, you’ll have to let me know. Judging by the pictures, it looks to be as interesting visually as it is orally.