A Bad Case of the Mondays

We've all had those days.  For some, it's sleeping through an alarm.  For others, it's getting a parking ticket the minute the meter ticks down to zero.  For me, it's getting locked out of my room.

Yep.  My lock stopped working.  My phone was in my room.  My phone, guys.  That's a big deal.  But not to worry, maintenance fixed it.

And this was after an awesome weekend too.

Every time I go home for the weekend, I feel like I gain the "Freshman 15."  I don't pig out at school.  Honest.  But when I go home...

No more than twenty minutes after walking in the door, my pizza rolls were in the microwave waiting to be eaten.  I enjoyed barbecue, Mexican food...

While I was eating my leftover chimichanga for lunch in my dorm room today, I came to the realization that I can actually eat well at school.  Case in point: the vegetable crudités I purchased in the cafeteria to eat alongside the aforementioned chimichanga.  It felt like a veggie cleanse after all the delicious junk I ate over the weekend.

I love being at home, but there's not a buffet-like plethora of über-healthy options to pick from.  I wish there were, but it just isn't realistic to have edamame and bell peppers and carrots and celery and pineapple and spring mix lettuce and vegan beans and rice and veggie patties.  Not everyone in our house eats like that.  Plus, it's the beginning of March, for crying out loud.

Where are the farmer's markets?!?

I can't wait for warm weather just because of those farmer's markets.  I have good intentions to binge on vegetation as soon as good produce becomes available.  But until then, I'm stuck eating from the cafeteria.  Which, as I'm finding out, isn't necessarily so bad.

~AF

Chicago Restaurant Week: Just the Right Time to Visit Frontera...Again.

I'm back, Frontera! ¡A comer!

I ate at Frontera on Friday, the first day of Chicago Restaurant Week.  And I got the Restaurant Week menu.  Three courses, twenty-two dollars.  You read that right, twenty-two dollars.  That's about how much you'd pay just for an entree!

Restaurant Week lasts until February 10.  Here's a link to Frontera's featured menu, if you'd care to peruse: http://www.rickbayless.com/news/view?articleID=259

Course one, the Huitlacoche Enchiladas, had an interesting balance of flavors.  The French-fried red onions on top presented a glimmer of familiarity in a dish otherwise entirely unique and foreign to me.  The huitlacoche itself wasn't too assertive, something I appreciated since I'd never had it before.  I mostly tasted the black beans, with a hint of...huitlacoche funkiness.  Not bad funkiness, just funkiness.  It's one of those flavors you can't quite put your finger on.  The tomatillo sauce was sharp and acidic, a welcome attribute in a plate of rich beans, fried onions, and crumbled cheese.

Next to arrive at the table was the phenomenally beautiful Gunthorp pork with apricot mole.  The apricot mole didn't scream apricot, but it complemented the pork in a way that only a stone fruit could.  As in any good sauce, the heat in the mole doesn't hit you in the first bite; instead it builds over time, nuanced and complex.  Atop the pork was a grilled apricot salsa, something I had difficulty identifying when the dish was put in front of me.  I enjoyed it immensely.  The salsa's texture contrasted perfectly with the tender pork and smooth butternut squash.  The spinach gave the plate the bitterness it needed to counteract the sweet squash and sweet-spicy mole.

The final movement in this symphony was a superb interpretation of the pastel tres leches.  Perched upon a smear of sweet goat's milk cajeta, the cake is reminiscent of a pound cake that's been dipped in milk.  Not too wacky, right?  Wrong.  Because once we get beyond the caramel and cake, Frontera starts to get a little crazy.  The cake is topped with little dollops of soft, lightly toasted meringue, with a texture reminiscent of marshmallow crème.  Then, in a stroke of genius, the cake is topped with supremes of blood orange and candied blood orange rind.  The sharp citrus, similar in flavor to a cross between a grapefruit and an orange (at least to my taste), kept the dish from seeming too cloyingly sweet.

Dessert went perfectly with my café de olla, its blood orange slices subtly echoing the orange zest flavor in the coffee.

I cannot applaud this special menu more.  Get out there and try it.  It's a fantastic price for fantastic food.  Nothing like a little Frontera to alleviate the winter blues.

~The Amateur Foodie

Installment 1: Sometimes the Best Foods in Life...

...are worth wending your way through a jam-packed restaurant at 2:30 on a Friday afternoon to enjoy.

Here's my feeble attempt at starting a series.  I say 'feeble' because, as we all know, the Foodie doesn't get out much lately.  But I did last Friday.

For this installment, we're talking real-deal comida mexicana (that's Mexican food, for all you angloparlantes out there).  Now, if the closest you've ever gotten to auténtico has been the drive-thru window at your local Taco Bell, we've gotta have a little chat.  Especially since there's so much more to Mexican food than Nachos Supreme (which, by the way, I'm sure isn't actually Mexican at all).

And this time we're not headed to Bayless Row on Clark Street.  For this installment, we're off to Pilsen.

Now I know what you're thinking: 'Pilsen?!? I've never been there before...is it safe? I'm not so sure about going to new neighborhoods...And how do I get there anyway?'  Calm down, queridos.  We'll work through this together.

Going to Pilsen during the daytime feels far from intimidating.  When I went there, no one was really around because it was pouring rain, but that's neither here nor there.  It helped that I was with someone who was familiar with the area.  If you're in doubt, bring a friend along.  You won't have to venture far from the 'L' station, anyway.  And as always, just be sensible!  Don't look like you're petrified and you have no clue where you're going.  If that's too difficult for you, hop back on the train and head home.

Our destination is about two blocks from the train.  Nuevo León is hard to miss, as long as you don't confuse it with the panadería of the same name just down the street.  When you get off the 18th Street stop on the Pink Line, head past Ashland about a block.  The storefront is colorfully painted, as you can see in the photo.  It'll be on your right.

It almost has a diner-like atmosphere inside during lunchtime.  It is so crowded and noisy, filled with all manner of people, Latino and not.  And the whole restaurant just smells like delicious food.

When you sit down, you get chips and salsa, along with some sort of small appetizer, free of charge.  To drink, they have Jarritos, a delicious soft drink from Mexico (I'd recommend the pineapple or fruit punch...tamarind is also popular, though I've never tried it).  But I'm on an horchata kick, so that's what I had to go for.  It was delicious, not quite as chunky as the stuff from Xoco but still super-refreshing and apparently made authentically, and it only cost a dollar.  One.  Dollar.

I got tacos, because I wasn't feeling too adventurous.  Simple, no-fuss tacos de asada.  They were made with corn tortillas (I'm guessing they were purchased from the tortillería next door) and filled with super-flavorful marinated skirt steak.  Accoutrements came on the side (iceberg lettuce, tomato, white onion).  My only complaint could be that they were a little greasy.  But it isn't a big complaint.  Not when they taste that good.

I brought back leftovers, and the food tasted just as good the second time around.  I'll admit, I did put some Frontera salsa on my tacos when I reheated them later.  But that was only to make sure they didn't dry out in the microwave (I hate microwaving really good food.  I'm always paranoid about ruining it).  Something amazing happens when you put amazing salsa on an amazing taco, and one can hardly fault me for it.

Total bill for the meal (which was more like 2 meals): $7, not including tax.

That's not bad, now is it?

I'd recommend going there at an odd time (like, not during the lunch rush).  Everybody already knows this place is awesome, and according to my Pilsen-familiar acquaintance, there's often a line out the door waiting for tables.  Grab a friend, hop on the train...maybe make a day of it and visit the National Museum of Mexican Art (which, by the way, is free).

I'm gonna find somebody to drag along to Nuevo León one of these days...I'm sort of in the mood for tacos...

~AF

A Bayless Torta Drowning in Sauce...On Purpose, Of Course

Here at last, lovies!  The Xoco post I've promised!

Last weekend my aunt and I were near Bayless Row (a new nickname I'm trying to coin...help a girl out!), but Frontera was closed to prepare for dinner service.  As disappointed as I was, it gave me just the opportunity I was looking for to try a sandwich I'd only heard of from Bayless's pretty-fast-semi-casual-but-still-pretty-upscale torta shop, Xoco ("little sister" in Mexican slang).

It's called a torta ahogada, which literally means drowned sandwich.  It's built on a great, sort of chewy, rustic-style bread.  The loaf's guts are removed to make room for the filling; it's smeared with black beans and stuffed with carnitas (amazing pork, that's all you need to know) and pickled white onions before being placed in a soup bowl with a spicy arbol chile sauce.  It's presented to you with a spoon.  I wasn't sure how to go about eating it.  I picked it up (probably the wrong idea...sauce was running down my wrists), but I guess you could break it down and eat it with the spoon...

Behold, the glory, the deliciousness...the torta ahogada.

I cannot possibly convey to you the deliciousness of this sandwich.  The pork is so tender, so flavorful.  It stands up to the über-flavorful sauce (okay, it's a Mexican spot...la salsa sabrosísima) and its subtleties pair nicely with the sharp, piquant bite of the still-crisp pickled onion.  The beans are a background note of flavor, but I'm sure the sandwich would lack something without them.  Sopping up all that delicious (and spicy) sauce is what the bread is designed for, I'm convinced.

Thankfully you can choose the heat level of your sauce (is there anything you've not thought of, Bayless?).  I asked for mild, and I'll admit my nose started to run a bit from the heat.  The one thing that saved me?  Oh, just you wait...

At Xoco, as with any of Bayless's restaurants, there is a featured agua del día, essentially drink of the day.  The day I was there, the drink of the day was horchata.  I have always wanted to try horchata.  It's a drink made from ground almonds or rice...unfortunately, I didn't have the good sense to inquire at the register what Bayless's horchata was made of.  If I were to venture a guess, I'd say almond.  But it's sweet and creamy and just what you need to cool down the fire of an arbol sauce.  If it's ever featured, be sure to try it!

The perfect end to my meal was the single churro that I brought back to my dorm room in a little paper bag.  It was crunchy, a little chewy, and coated in the most delicious blend of cinnamon, coarse sugar, and crushed cacao.  I only wish I would've eaten it in the store with a cup of chocolate.

Sabrosísimo.

~AF

Okay, Kiddies...Still to Come: Premium Burgers and Drowned Sandwiches!

It's too late for me to put up a full post about my food adventures right now...I need to go to bed.  Suffice it to say, though, I ate well on Friday and Saturday.

Upcoming:

• Butcher and the Burger: A Lincoln Park build-a-burger joint with rockin' fries and truffle mayo!
• Xoco: Rick Bayless fails to disappoint yet again with a carnitas torta swimming in spicy arbol sauce...plus my first experience drinking horchata. 
• Garrett popcorn! That is all.

Get ready, guys!  You'll hear all about it.  Hopefully I'll have time during my lunch break tomorrow, but if not, you'll see my reviews (and photos!) by tomorrow night (10 pm, CST).

Peace, Love, and Buen provecho!

~AF

We're Ba-ack! Frontera Grill, Take Two!

Darlings, darlings, darlings!  We made it in! Lunch on a Friday at Frontera!  Admittedly, I was upset when I called yesterday to make a reservation and they said they weren't accepting any more.  But we arrived 20 minutes before the doors were set to open for lunch service, and we were seated right away!

Unfortunately the Chef (a.k.a. the Rick Bayless) wasn't in the dining room for me to photograph this time around.  According to his Twitter feed, it sounds like he's spending some time in Mexico.  Good for him...Chicago's weather lately has been far from ideal.

We ended up seated in the bar area (gorgeous! Absolutely phenomenal!).  And we got to see Alfredo again.  Now, I didn't mention Alfredo in my previous post.  But he was our waiter then too.  You can tell he loves being there, and believe it or not, he recognized us!  Once again he took great care of us...when you go, I'm sure any waiter would be fine, but I hope you get Alfredo.

As far as my meal, it was a mixed bag.  A delicious, phenomenal mixed bag.  I tried a new drink!  I tried a new coffee!  I had more guacamole and a tamal!  Here's the scoop:

Now, I read somewhere that a tasty beverage called "agua fresca" was "trending" right now.  I don't normally follow trends, but when I saw that there was an agua fresca on the menu, I had to try it!  It was a delightful passionfruit-orange spritzer.  It's pictured in the photo at the top (the drink to the left is my sister's non-alcoholic sparkling limeade, the middle one's mine, and the drink on the right is my aunt's zingy mojito...although tasty, not something I can order.  I just needed a third drink to balance the photo.  It's...nevermind...).

We got guacamole!  Ah, yes.  Delicious, velvety, perfect guacamole!  You've already seen pictures of it, so I didn't take another.  It's the same, and just as tasty.  (Plus, we'd already ravaged about half the bowl by the time I realized I needed to snap some blog pics).

My entree was a tamal yet again.  I know, I know.  For the sake of my dear readers I should be going out on a limb!  But it wasn't any tamal.  It was a duck tamal!

Delicious, luscious duck tamal at Frontera Grill on Clark St.

I have not ever had duck before.  (I know!  Gimme a break, already!)  It was delicious.  The meat was not seasoned to death; you could still distinguish its unique flavor.  The tamal itself was enrobed in a smooth, spicy sauce and topped with mushrooms (I ask you, could that get any better?).  A small garnish salad completed the dish.  The salad provided that perfect brightness needed to lighten up what could otherwise have been a really heavy dish.

The mark of a truly great restaurant is the ability to present a dish where there is nothing on the plate that the diner does not want to eat.  If the decorative banana leaf underneath my meal were edible, I would've given that a shot too.  Need I say more?

Now you know me, readers.  I tasted everybody's dishes too.

Pork tenderloin that unfortunately wasn't mine.

Mom and Dad both got a pork tenderloin dish that included some fantastic mashed sweet potatoes, spinach, and a deep, dark, savory sauce that I think was a mole (I'm sorry, I'm not absolutely sure!).  It was finished off with walnuts.  If I didn't consider emoticons to be poor blog etiquette, I would insert a smiley here.  I could find no fault in the pork tenderloin.  Except maybe for the fact that it was on someone else's plate.

Pork tinga tacos...before they become tacos

I had another case of food envy when I tried my aunt's pork tinga.  Slow-roasted pig with chorizo mixed in?  Ah-mazing.  The dish came in a boat, topped with fresh avocado, with corn tortillas on the side.

Mexico City-style cheese quesadillas with guacamole

My sister had cheese quesadillas.  But not just any.  They were Mexico City-style.  Think potsticker-shaped pastry filled with ooey-gooey Jack cheese and served with guacamole.  As someone who generally finds cheese quesadillas to be sort of blah, I have to admit I wanted to ask for a second taste.

But the fun was only starting.  Dessert was still to come.  I was being stubborn, and I thought I couldn't possibly eat one more bite of food.  Instead of a dessert, I ordered a beverage and offered to have a bite of my aunt's dessert.

I saw cafe de olla on the dessert menu.  I've heard this referred to as "cowboy coffee" by somebody...I'm not quite sure who.  It's a staunch brew, sweetened with Mexican piloncillo sugar and spiced with a heady blend of cinnamon, clove, and orange zest.  I had no idea how amazing it would be...I just wanted to give it a try.  It's now my new favorite caffeinated beverage.

Blueberry bread pudding.  Cue the applause!

My aunt had a blueberry bread pudding (Budin de pan) with a citrusy-tasting ice cream and granola crumble.  I'm a bread pudding fanatic, and although I already felt ready to explode, I have to admit I pretty much split it with her.

Lime flan (L) and caramel flan.

My mom and sister shared a duo of flans, one lime and one caramel, each topped with macerated raspberries and teeny-tiny sugar cookies.  The lime was unexpected.  It had the flavor of citrus while still feeling luscious and silken.  And raspberry-lime?  A match made in dessert-food heaven.

Chocolate cheesecake and coffee

And then we have the chocolate cheesecake...the chocolate cheesecake my dad ordered.  In a Mexican restaurant?  Yes.  Don't knock it 'til you try it.  Cookie crust, marbled vanilla and chocolate filling, served with a strawberry coulis and smooth strawberry ice cream.  Don't question it.  Just love it.  Put it this way, my dad was reluctant to let us taste it.  He wanted it all to himself...frankly, I don't blame him.

Our outing was capped off with a visit to Chicago's Art Institute to view the visiting Roy Lichtenstein exhibit, along with a stroll though Millennium Park to snap a photo in front of the Bean.


Lunch was hours ago, and I'm still full.  The verdict?  Success.  And now, on to the next spot.

Peace, Love, and Fabulous Eating,

~Amateur Foodie

Rick Bayless: Chef, Restauranteur, All-Around Cool Guy

Rick Bayless is known for many things: his television show, his award-winning cookbooks, and his line of chips and salsa.  But sometimes people forget that when it really comes down to it, he is not just "Rick Bayless, Cookbook Author."  He is first and foremost a chef.

The first time I ever saw Bayless on television, he was on an episode of Julia Child's show, In Julia's Kitchen with Master Chefs.  Out of curiosity, and literally just a minute ago, I looked up the original air date of this episode.  I was not even two years old when this episode debuted, my friends.  And Bayless had already been in the industry for a good ten years or more before that.  Obviously I didn't watch the show on its original air date, but I have seen it nonetheless, and it's really interesting to see that Bayless's take on food hasn't really changed much since then.

My real interest in Bayless's cooking came about as a result of his PBS show, Mexico: One Plate at a Time.  I love Mexican food, and it has always been fun for me to see how it is made.  I knew that he had two restaurants in downtown Chicago, Topolobampo and Frontera (he's recently added a third, Xoco), and ever since I really got into watching his cooking show, I had wanted to try the food at one of the restaurants, even though for some reason I thought I would never get the chance.

My opportunity came at the most unusual of times.  My parents and I had just finished a college visit at Loyola, and were looking for someplace to eat.  I casually threw out Frontera as an option, and my parents essentially said, 'Hey, why not?'

The first thing I noticed when we went inside was the look of the restaurant.  It is just cool.  Just inside the front door, there was an orangey-yellow wall festooned with paper monarch butterflies, meant to represent the migratory route that the butterflies take during the winter.  I mean, how awesome is that?!?

When you walk through the bar area (pictured at left), one of the more unusual pieces of decor are the large, brightly-colored statues perched atop shelves.  They are examples of traditional Mexican folk art, and I'm not entirely sure what they're called.  They look like demons, dragons, and animals, and as bizarre as they may seem at first, they are really beautiful.

There was about a fifteen-minute wait, even though it was about one-thirty in the afternoon on a Wednesday, but boy, was it worth it.  We were seated in a prime spot near the bar, in an elevated alcove where we could oversee the entire room.

The dining room is a cool space.  The walls are that same yellow-orange, which really gives warmth to the space.  The ceilings are industrial-looking, which works for me because it gives a certain openness to the space, which might otherwise have been overwhelmed by the rich paint color and vibrant artwork on the walls.

Now, since this is, for all intents and purposes, a food blog, maybe I should start talking about the food.

As soon as we sat down, we got a bowl of mixed...well, they weren't really mixed nuts.  There were pumpkin seeds, peanuts, pine nuts, and what looked like either lima beans or fava beans.  Whatever you want to call this mezcla, it was delicious, albeit screaming hot.  I do not know what they put in the seasoning, but it was so spicy that I probably downed about three glasses of water before we even got our appetizer.  I didn't care.  It was yummy, so I kept right on eating it.

For our appetizer, we had chips and guacamole.  There it is on the right.  You may think that chips and guacamole is, well, boring.  Maybe it's too predictable for you.  But to say that, you, my friend, would be wrong...so, so wrong.  The chips?  Made fresh in-house and just salty enough.  The guac?  Laden with cumin and unbelievably fresh.  The unroasted tomatillo and roasted tomato salsas that come alongside?  Acidic enough to lighten up the rich guacamole.  The price tag might be a little off-putting, but believe me, Bayless knows how to do guacamole, and it is a wise investment.  The portion was really perfect for my parents and me: enough to whet our appetites, but not so much that we had no room for our entrees.

I tried the tamal of the day (yes, perhaps tamale to you, but at Frontera, it's a tamal).  It was a tasty little packet of fresh corn masa filled with sweet, tender pork, and the whole thing was smothered in a smooth, sweet guajillo chile sauce.  It was served with a smear of black beans and a watercress salad (you read that right: watercress) dressed with a sharp, citrusy lime dressing that cut perfectly through the fatty richness of the pork tamal.  The guajillo sauce was so delicious, so well balanced, that I think I literally could have had it as a drink with my meal.

Halfway through the meal, my mom caught a glimpse of a white jacket.  With the demeanor of a twelve-year-old girl spotting the Biebs at the mall, she seized me by the arm and said, "Did you see him? It's him!"

I thought, no, that's probably not possible.  He's a chef, an author, a television show host...why would he be walking around his restaurant on a Wednesday afternoon in October?  But sure enough, Rick Bayless himself walked right past our table, carrying...his lunch?

And then something amazing happened.  Rick Bayless walked through the dining room of Frontera Grill, sat down at one of the tables, and ate his lunch.  I mean, how cool is that?  He's well-known nationwide, but he still sits in the dining room of his restaurant to chill and eat lunch.

I'll admit, I snapped a photo of Bayless (shown on the right) from across the room, probably much to the chagrin of the two women at the table between Bayless and myself.  But, after all, I am a huge fan.

I will never look at him the same way.  He is not some distant celebrity chef.  He's a normal guy, really.  A normal guy who just happens to own three restaurant spaces on Clark Street in Chicago, and whose food I just can't wait to eat again.  Be ready, Bayless.  I'm coming back.

Mexican Lunch in the Near North: Cantina Laredo

It was hot in the city of Chicago today, food fans.  It could've been worse, but it also could've been better.  And making the conscious decision not to take the bus has done a number on AF's feet.  Put it this way: I'm home now, and I'm wearing slipper socks.

We as a family hiked it all the way from Union Station to the Near North neighborhood, all in search of a good meal.  We really wanted to visit my buddy Rick Bayless, but apparently his place gets a little crowded on a Friday...darn!

We were en route to his tortas-and-caldos cafe, Xoco, but we were feeling famished.  We just happened to pass another Mexican place and decided to stop and rest our tired tootsies.  I felt like I was cheating on Frontera, but honestly, Cantina Laredo is a completely different story.

The entire place feels very chic and zen (not a bad thing, but I much prefer Frontera's splashy colors and cozy booths).  It is altogether modern and airy, with enormous windows all along two sides of the space that let in lots of sunlight.

But you're not hear to read a critique of the design, now are you, readers?

When you sit down, your server brings you crispy corn chips and two different kinds of salsa, one warm and one cold, neither overly spicy.  Pretty tasty.  But the party didn't start until we gave an emphatic 'Yes' to the server's offer of fresh guacamole.  We weren't prepared for what happened next.

A lady rolled a food cart to our tableside.  On the table was a basket of fresh avocado, and bowls of limes, roasted mild green chiles, red onion, cumin, salt, tomatoes, cilantro, and  jalapeño (there might have been some other stuff too, but I wasn't paying much attention.  You can pick mild or hot for your guac, and it is mashed and mixed right before your eyes.  Can you say 'awesome'?


The guacamole gets points just for being so darned fresh.  Plus it's fun to watch your food being made.


My entree was good.  I had enchiladas de barbacoa (really just enchilada de barbacoa, pictured below).  Pretty basic, it was a corn tortilla filled with pull-apart, juicy and delicious seasoned beef.  At Laredo, they top it with a ranchera sauce (tomatoes, garlic), plus chopped fresh cilantro (a must for Mexican food) and crumbled Chihuahua cheese. 

I really appreciate their decision to think beyond the arroz con frijoles most places decide to serve up.  Instead, each entree came with Mexican rice and sauteed zucchini.  I love zucchini, so I thought it was mighty tasty.


When we go out to eat, I'm usually lucky enough to get a taste of what everybody else is having.  This time, I got to try my mom's barbacoa tamale (they called it a tamale, not a tamal...that sort of bugged me) and my dad's entree, which was their fish special (grilled salmon with cilantro chimichurri sauce and cilantro rice).


The salmon was really good.  But I had always thought chimichurri was primarily made with parsley, not cilantro...maybe we're going for moderno, not autentico.


But I must say that tamale was disappointing!  The meat inside was flavorful, but the poor little thing was dry, dry, dry!  The masa they used to form the tamale was unseasoned, and the whole thing was crumbly and...blah.  Even the barbacoa inside, so delicate and tender when used to fill my enchilada, was tough and chewy (kind of like jerky...such a shame).  

I'm so sorry, Laredo.  Your enchilada was tasty but you killed your tamale.  I'll go back for your guacamole and enchiladas, and when I'm able to drink I'll try one of your mojitos (they were about a foot tall and looked wicked!).  But Frontera will always be my #1 in the Near North, and I'll always love their tamales more.  Lo siento...lo siento mucho.

**Side note: PEOPLE WATCHING: I didn't see Rick Bayless there, for obvious reasons.  But I believe I did see Chicago newswoman and co-host of ABC's Windy City Live, Val Warner, eating lunch a few tables away.  I didn't take any pictures of her.  I save that privilege for the inimitable Mr. Bayless.

Until next time, readers,


~AF