Eating our way through the holidays

WE’VE DONE A LITTLE TRAVELING OVER THE HOLIDAYS AFTER ALL. A day trip to Milwaukee to see our daughter there and eat delicious takeout from The Vanguard. The Chef-driven bar and restaurant offers “an elevated approach to Milwaukee’s Beer and Brat tradition,” with house-made sausages that range from familiar to adventurous. All with the city’s signature friendliness and lack of attitude.

We ate exquisite Chinese takeout from Chinatown’s MCCB—for Christmas dinner, of course. And generous shawerma sandwiches from Sultan’s Market in Wicker Park, followed by donuts from Stan’s.

We’ve been doing some cooking too. A simple French toast and bacon breakfast; roasted Cornish game hens with a citrus sauce; Lidia Bastianich’s Ziti with Sausage and Fennel (after not having this traditional Italian nonna dish for too long, we are putting it back into rotation). As I write this, a coconut berry pear loaf is cooling for dessert. And before the new year, Marion is going to adapt her family-pleasing Vietnamese Beef Stew for the Instant Pot.

We hope you’re having a lovely holiday break, eating lots of delicious things. See you in the new year.