Food and cooking in Chicago; Lemien Family Pancakes

I am currently in Chicago, having made the flight all the way here from Spain just so that I could pick up a passport and visa from the Spanish Consulate here. It is quite frustrating that my documents could not have been mailed to me, or that I couldn't have someone pick them up for me, so I consider this to me the most expensive visa ever: although there was no visa fee with the application (very nice), the money I had to spend in order to procure all the necessary documents, the costs of sending them, plus the trans-Atlantic airfare made this a pricey visa.

While I am here in Chicago I am staying with the wonderful Isa and her husband Daniel. They have a very nice apartment near Lincoln Park. While Daniel has been at work during the day, Isa and I have spent a good deal of time in the kitchen. Yesterday while Isa made a delicious spaghetti dish with bacon, creme, onions and garlic, I made my fried bananas. Fried bananas are kind of becoming a signature dish of mine. They are very sweet. I had them once in a Dai restaurant in Beijing, and I have loved the idea ever since.

Nutella on pancakes: tastes even better than it sounds

This morning I made banana pancakes, one of my favorite things to make. There is a recipe that my dad used when I was little that has now taken on the name of the Lemien family recipe with me (although he originally got it from a friend, not a family member), and it goes something like this:

3 eggs

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour
2 cups milk (1 1/2 cups for waffles)

1/2 cup oil (sunflower - something tasteless)

dash of baking soda

While that is the basic recipie for pancakes, mashed bananas, slices of strawberry, or blueberries can be added into it for variation. Isa and I ate them with Nutella spread over the top like a think syrup. I love Nutella.