We here at yo soy, and by we I mean just brian and I, are deciding it is still early enough in our endeavors to upgrade our concept. We love, love, love the idea of experimentation, and felt that we were somewhat limited by strictly chinese and mexican combinations, so we decided to open it up to unlimited possibilities. Yo soy is now Mexican. Inspired! I feel liberated and excited! It's the same feeling when I play and win loteria (hence the photo)! We celebrated by having friends over for dinner last night by having a tasting of what's to come. we served a comforting soup called fideo which is vermicelli noodles cooked with roasted cumin and tomatoes topped off with fresh crisp tortilla strips. We then presented brian's fantastic empanadas filled with all spice, ground beef and carrots as well as a touch of manzana vinegar. The sauces for the empanadas were homemade chimmichuri and also a chipotle garlic with tamarind. We had mexican rice as well , which is white rice sauteed with fresh cilantro, cumin, garlic and onions and then all steam cooked together (there are tons of variations on this recipe). And then for dessert, which was an experimentation on my part, was peanut butter and ghirardelli cocoa flan with cajeta drizzled atop. It turned out amazingly paired with port from our favorite neighbor, and wine store, kafka! After dinner we decided it would be appropriate to play my favorite past time game, LOTERIA! A blast was had by all as we drank the night away with fantastic wine and port, and toasted each other every time el boracho was pulled from the deck of cards! We could not have had a better relaunch dinner, well, unless we had live mariachi's! But we will put that idea in our back pocket for one of our upcoming dinners later down the road!

Which leads me to touch base on that subject. We have been advertising in the Chicago Free Press for a couple of weeks now. And We have been delighted by the responses we are getting, and want to address the date that we are toying with. We are trying to navigate things around our working schedules, as well as the upcoming holidays. We will send out emails to those who have patiently waited (thank you!) for this dinner. We will send out an email to you with at least a 2 week notice. And for the people who have just seen the ad, and want more information, we have the info. posted under the "goodies" blog from a couple of weeks back. Also, I am excited about the entertainment that will be at our dinner table. We have confirmed a soprano singer as well as her pianist, and some local podcasters thrown in the mix as well. There is one other person I am trying to get to attend, and don't want to scare him off by naming him, so stay posted to watch what happens! So, once again, thank you to the individuals who have showed interest in attending, please stand by and I promise to get in touch with you in the next week with an exact date!

xoxoxo goodies!

mikey & brian