I think you're sauceome.

So Eliza Frye’s in town and we spent the day tromping around Chicago, taking her fabulous book to a bunch of comic book stores. After hitting Alleycat, we were feeling a little hungry and in need of a rest.

“There’s an Algerian crepe restaurant on the corner,” I told Eliza.

“How do you remember where all of these restaurants are?” she asked. I… I don’t know. The same way my little brother remembered every dinosaur’s Latin name when he was nine, I guess. This is the information that’s important to me, the stuff that sticks in my head.

Anyway, I’d gotten takeout from Icosium once, and I remembered liking it, but it was nothing compared to eating in the restaurant. It’s a sweet, intimate little place, very charming, ornate but not intimidating, and super friendly. The vegetable soup – I was told it had butternut squash, potato, sweet potato, onions and garlic and other things in it – was absolutely perfect, much milder than I was expecting from an Algerian place, and delicately spiced. It was just pureed vegetables and spices, they said, no cream or anything, and it really didn’t need it. The crepe came out decorated with pomegranate seeds, pear and melon and orange slices. The merguez – that’s a special kind of spicy lamb sausage from North Africa – was distinct and powerful without being overwhelming, and the sweetness of the caramelized onions and pomegranate offset it perfectly. The fresh mint leaves on everything was a really nice touch, too. Highly recommend!

If you’re in Chicago, we’ll be at Challengers Comics on Friday, Dec 30! Eliza will be signing copies of her book Regalia, and she’ll have a lot of prints and other little goodies as well. Come on down and say hi!

All right! I’m feeling much better now, but between hammering away at the Shuteye book, getting sick, and the general chaos of the holidays, I took a little unscheduled break there, sorry about that. Here’s the delicious (if non traditional) holiday dinner we had last night. My friend Randi made the biscuits and skillet cornbread, I made a giant pot of vegetarian chili (and was complimented multiple times on balancing the spices so well), and Niles put together these weird but amazingly delicious little lobster pizza things. We all cleaned out the dark heavy beers we’d been saving, and we even had a Buche de Noel cake! I think I’ll devote an entire comic to that thing.

Anyway, I’m still moving too slow to do the food diary bits, but I promise we’ll be back to normal by Wednesday’s comic. Happy holidays!

This will be a brief one, because I’m feeling under the weather, and I’m cheating a little bit because I drew this a while ago and just never uploaded it. But it’s double-sized, to make up for it! The only thing that makes this almost vegetarian is the Worcestershire sauce, which few people ever seem to remember contains anchovies. I love this recipe, because this is the type of cooking that I’m best at – throwing a bunch of things in a pot, improvising with amounts and ingredients and spices until you get it juuuuust right. But I especially love this recipe in the winter time, because it’s so hearty and good for you. Vegetables galore! Three types of beans! And if you add portobello mushroom, chopped super, super fine, it even tastes like it’s got meat in it.

Okay. If I can manage to fight this cold off for the holiday, this will be our Christmas dinner, along with skillet cornbread and a Buche de Noël. And now I’m going to sleep and cross my fingers that this virus doesn’t decide to stay with me for very long.

I was going to do a comic comparing Glühwein to Glögg but honestly, they’re just way too similar.

When I first moved to Chicago, I lived in Andersonville, a historically Swedish neighborhood on the north side. By the time I lived there, it wasn’t THAT Swedish anymore – sure, there were a few Swedish delis (there’s only one left now), and a handful of Swedish restaurants and the Swedish-American museum; but as far as I could tell there were more Turkish restaurants and gay bars than Swedish things. Still, the residual Scandinavian-ness is strong – once winter hits, every bar, every liquor store, every restaurant (even the Turkish ones) sells Glögg. You can have it with dinner, you can get it fresh and piping hot at Simon’s, you can but it pre-mixed at the liquor store on the corner.

But if you don’t have a sizeable Swedish population in your town, you can also MAKE Glögg. This is Niles’s typical recipe when he makes it for me, but Glögg is kind of like sangria or chili or stew – there are LOTS of different ways to throw a bunch of delicious things in a pot. Some recipes call for vodka or aquavit. Some call for cooking it on high for only 15 minutes. Some call for just as much port and brandy as wine! Some toss raisins and almonds in the cup for snacking on after you finish your drink. The important thing is: HOT MULLED WINE. Wrap yourself in a blanket and ladle it into a mug, it will get you through the long dark winter nights.

One of my last few plugs for this: The Kickstarter is almost over!! Only a few days left to get in on it!