Mike and I watch Check Please, a PBS show hosted by sommelier Alpana Singh which lets ordinary people review Chicago restaurants, frequently and were excited when we heard of the “lost episode” from 2001 featuring Barack Obama.

Obama reviews Hyde Park haunt Dixie Kitchen and Bait Shop, which is surprisingly still open and with multiple locations. I bet they are going to love the burst of publicity!

Anyway, here it is. Enjoy and make your reservation quick!

Val has come up with some great questions this week to get our foodie brains thinking about Four Foods on Friday. It’s a great segway into the weekend, and by the time you’re finished reading everyone’s entries, you’ll have recipes for hte next week!

1. What’s your favorite food smell?

Sweets. Cupcakes, cookies, cakes, muffins. Even when I’m not baking, my house smells like sweets because I always buy pastry scented candles!

2. What’s your favorite kind of apple?

Fuji. They are crunchy and tart without being sour, and they have a great solid texture unlike other apples that turn to applesauce when you bite into them.

3. What veggies do you like in your salad?

A standard salad is lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, olives. I don’t stray too far from that on the veggie side, but I love to add other garbage like eggs, cheese, bacon, and chicken strips. I just described my favorite salad! The Chicken Critter salad from Texas Roadhouse!

4. Share a recipe that uses beef.

I’ve never made it myself, but I love it as an appetizer at a good restaurant, and last night’s episode of Top Chef has me craving Beef Carpaccio.

8 to 10 ounces beef tenderloin from the tip end of the roast
4 handfuls arugula or mixed greens
Your favorite vinaigrette
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Shaved Parmesan

Wrap the tenderloin in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 2 hours.

After 2 hours, unwrap the tenderloin and thinly slice the beef into approximately into 1/8 to 1/4-inch pieces. Lay out sheets of plastic wrap and place each slice onto the plastic. Top with another piece of plastic and gently pound the meat with a meat mallet until paper thin. Repeat until all of the meat is sliced and pounded. Divide the meat evenly among 4 chilled plates. Serve with greens tossed with vinaigrette, salt, pepper and/or Parmesan.

I’ve been eagerly anticipating Britney’s cameo on How I Met Your Mother for a few weeks now, and the episode is set to air this Monday, but here’s a sneak peak…

It’s cute, she looks better, but you can tell something isn’t quite right. She’s still got her hand in the crazy.

I knew Britney would make a comeback, and sources are reporting that it could be sooner than later! Britney and her agent met with the cast of the CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother (a personal favorite of mine) to rehearse for an episode set to air at the end of the month. The best part is that the roll is for that of a possible recurring character!

All Brit-Brit needed was a good colon cleanse, and she’s all ready to get back to work! This will be Britney’s second prime-time appearance. She played a Christian talk show host on Will & Grace in 2006, and was a scream.

Tags: Britney Spears, How I Met Your Mother

Mike and I are arguing over who invented the calendar because the HBO series Rome mentions the month November in an episode and I questioned whether a monthly calendar was in use at that time. Even if I’m wrong, I’m not going to stop arguing, so we’re going to need to get a life insurance quote quick, because it is turning ugly.