Oh My Deliciousness

I can't stop thinking about our dinner at Bon Soiree last night. Easily, in the top five meals of my life. I'll share more later, but here are the courses we ate:

Inside out trout shooter. Loved this!! It was a macadamia nut encrusted with flaked trout in beurre blanc. Oh so buttery, salty and fishy.

Tempura style Pugent Sound sea Beans with caramel stuffed lotus root, house pickled radishes and a salad of micro beet greens and watercress with a miso vinaigrette. This was the only vegetarian dish of the night and easily one of my faves.

Oxtail in a bone marrow sauce with speatzle and Japanese mushrooms. I heart oxtails.

Homemade smoked bacon with toasted marshmallows and an over easy quail egg. Bacony goodness. Served in a box filled with smoke.

Parsnip & roasted chestnut soup with egg nog creme fraiche and toast with crab two ways. This was so good and great with the Champagne which really cut the fat of the dish.

Giant scallop motoyaki with ponzu. Motoyaki is a style where the scollop is covered in a layer of aioli and them broiled. This was tasty but so ridiculously rich, almost too rich for me.

Huckleberry quail stuffed with Cabrales bleu with a trio of potato lardons. Good, I didn't LOVE it like I did so many other dishes.

Waygu beef cheek rillettes with charmoula & ras-el-hanout. This was so fatty and flavorful.

The cheese course was fabulous! A savory chevre poundcake "frosted" with Exploratuer dusted with blackberry ash

Our two desserts were:
A red curry ice cream with kaffir lime curd, peanut brittle and jasmine rice pudding. Tasted JUST LIKE penang curry.

Griddled banana bread pudding with a frozen chocolate pyramid and walnut brittle. Yum! I want it right now!

I am full just thinking about it again. (And maybe a little hung over after three bottles of wine.)

Seriously, get thee to Bon Soiree if you're in Chicago.

Everything's Amazing, Nobody's Happy

All I know is that this guy's name is Louis CK. He's a stand up comedian. Interesting perspective he has, and he's funny!

30 Plays in 60 Minutes -- Go!

Recently, I shared the scoop on Baby Wants Candy with you. It's a great musical improv show. If you live in Chicago or your visiting, I highly recommend you go on a Friday night.

Since you're Friday night will be booked, you'll need something to do on Saturday night. I suggest Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind. Oh my! It's a great show. It's not improv, but it's still funny, dramatic, poignant and a tad disturbingly dark. My faves.

This show is in my 'hood -- Andersonville, in the northern part of the city. If you're a tourist, it might be a little off the beaten path, but you'll really get to see a great part of the city and alot of tourists don't see. It's at the Neo Futurarium at Ashland & Foster.

So here's the deal:

First: Stand in line in the cold waiting for a "token" to get in.
Second: Get ushered up a set of dark stairs to a waiting room above a funeral parlor.
Third: Stand in the waiting room with your token and cash handy.
Forth: Get to the head of the line and roll a die. The price of your ticket is $9 plus the roll of your die. Ashlie rolled a 6 and paid $15, I rolled a 2 and paid $11. Got it?
Fifth: Grab a seat in the small theatre for 150 people.

Once you're settled, the ensemble tries to prepare you for what you're about to experience. You'll have a "menu" that includes 30 plays. The ensemble will attempt to perform ALL 30 plays in 60 minutes! Here's the catch: The audience chooses the order that they will be performed. It's mayhem, the hollering and the laughing. Some of the plays are funny, others are deep, some are pure performance art.

Seriously, folks. If you come to Chicago make time to see this show. My buddy Brian is coming to visit in April and I'm thinking this is something he'll dig.

At the Bean -- Millenium Park

Friday Fluff

I know I should be posting Fridge Friday or something of worth, but I'm not.

I'm still feeling pretty crappy, think that I might have another ear infection. Hello? I'm 35! What's with the ear infections.

16 year old niece is in town. She arrived yesterday afternoon. Last night we went for sushi and a movie with a stop at a great coffeeshop in between. We saw "She's Just Not That Into You." It was cute, nothing exciting.

Today is deep dish pizza at Gino's East, ice skating at Millenium Park, Chinese BBQ at Sun Wah for dinner and then Baby Wants Candy. Busy.

Tomorrow is looking busy too.

I Bought the Tickets

Finally.

I'm happy to say that I've booked my next trip. In keeping with my commitment to myself in my 28th year, I've managed to venture out of the country every year. In the past seven years, I've visited 12 countries and several of them numerous times. I won't lie, I wish I'd visited more places, but it's a work in progress.

I was presented with the opportunity to travel to Nepal on a trekking trip in October. It's a tentative trip with several co-workers and friends. A great opportunity for sure. A dream trip.

This year is also my mother's 60th birthday. She's mentioned on more than one occasion that she'd like to go back to Paris. Unfortunately for her, my father has no interest in going back to Paris and they were in the south of France in the fall, so chances are looking slim for her. I bit the bullet and decided to forgo Nepal. Hell, mom only turns 60 once!

I called dad to ask if he would mind if I took mom on a trip for her birthday in October. Of course, he agreed and I began the research.

As you probably know from reading my blog, I travel alot for work and I've been lucky enough to accrue more hotel points that I know what to do with. Lightbulb moment! Use them to fund your vacation!!!



I've book us eight nights here in Paris. I'm not really one to stay in a Hilton in Europe, but heck -- it's free!!! It's a nice hotel and we'll get good service and upgraded to a suite and lots of other great stuff, so mom will really enjoy it. I'm more of a little pension kind of girl, but mom will totally get a kick out of it.

Then, I didn't want to just visit Paris, I wanted to tack on a trip to a new place. After lots of research and finding the perfect combination of good flights from Paris, Marriott hotel availability and flights back to Chicago I decided on Dublin. Kind of a weird combo, I know....Paris and Dublin, but it works and neither of us have been there. We're going to stay here. This hotel I'm pretty jazzed about because it's a historic hotel in a great part of town. We'll be in Dublin for five nights and they back to Chicago.

I think that we're just going to take our time exploring more of Paris without making any crazy plans. I'm guessing that more than one day at the Louvre will be on our agenda and several other museums, too. You could live there your whole life and not see everything.

Dublin? I have no idea! If you have any suggestions for either place let me know! I'm bummed that it's over 200 days until our trip, but I'm happy to have it on the calendar at least.

First, I'll head to Phoenix to visit my new niece, NYC with Lolo and New Orleans with Bug between now and June, so I have plenty to look forward to before my mom's surprise birthday trip (oh, and my birthday is October, too!).

Good Eatin' & Drinkin'

While my guests are in town over the next weeks, I have some good bites and beverages in store for us. Some of these are places that I've visited and others will be my maiden voyage.

First up is my fancy night out with Leanne. We'll be going to Bon Soiree on a Friday night. Seriously, check that menu! It's spectacular. Here's the deal, is a prix fixe menu of five, seven or 13 courses and it's a tiny restaurant, only 26 seats. The best part? It's BYOB so you can bring your favorite wines to enjoy with your meal. Basically, I love drinking wine with my meals, but it's always the most expensive part of the dining experience. Here we can bring our retail priced wine and spend our money on the food, which is sure to be amazing.

We have late reservations for Bon Soiree, so we'll be hitting The Violet Hour beforehand for pre-dinner cocktails. And I do mean cocktails, not just any ol' drink. This speakeasy has rules! No Bud Light, no Grey Goose and no plain regular old gin & tonics here. The cocktail menu is really interesting and I'm looking forward to trying an Eyes Wide or a Part & Parcel. Swanky, no?

One night we'll be sure to hit Sun Wah for Chinese BBQ. I've not been here, but I've glazed lovingly at the lovely roasted BBQ meats hanging in the window, the duck, goose, chicken and suckling pig. Sign me up! What a deal, we'll easily spend less than $20 for dinner for two of tasty, authentic Chinese. I've heard that this is very similar to a restaurant you'd encounter in China!

Beer and snacks will most definitely happen at some point. Hopleaf is the place for that. It's a neighborhood Belgian beer bar & restaurant. I love Belgian restaurants and beers! Hopleaf is always full, so the earlier we can get there, the better. Better again if it's a weekday. Kwak? Love it. And the mussels? Fugeddaboutit!

I love brunch and I'm happy to say that one of the best brunch spots in town is about a three minute walk from my front door. M. Henry. I mean, how good must it be when they call their pancakes "blisscakes"? Again, BYOY, so we can bring our own Champagne for mimosas. Everything goes better with Champagne, right?

What do you think? Any faves? I'll be sure to give you the complete update.

See It for Free

February may not be a big month for tourism in Chicago, but there's still plenty going on. In fact, I have two houseguests back to back this month; my niece, Ashli will be here this coming weekend and my BFF, Leanne arrives shortly thereafter.

Here are some of the FREE (or very cheap things we'll be doing):

The Art Institute of Chicago -- This is a great museum, I've been visiting for almost 15 years, but haven't been since I moved here this summer. Tickets are usually $12 and well worth it, but for the month of February admission to the museum is FREE! Don't miss the miniature rooms, really very cool.

The Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University -- I've never been here, but I'm very excited to see the Robert Mapplethorpe exhibit. Northwestern is in Evanston which is accessible on the Purple Line for just $2.25. The Block is always free!

Chicago History Museum -- This is a privately endowed museum focusing on the rich history of the city. It's $14 to visit, but every Monday it's FREE! Right now, there are some great activities celebrating the Bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln, a native son of Illinois. In fact, on today's date in 1858, Lincoln was in Chicago.



Millennium Park -- You can't miss "The Bean", which is actually called Cloudgate. You can also ice skate in Millennium Park for FREE! It's free if you have your own skates, otherwise, skate rental is $10.

Plan it right and I'd say that you have at least two days worth of activities for free!! I can't wait to share some of the tasty places that we'll be eating when my guests are in town.

Weather Weirdness

It was a beautiful day in Chicago on Sunday. About 54 degrees. Yesterday is was a balmy 64, sunny and breezy. I actually wandered about in short sleeves.

And in Tucson at my parents house, this was the weather:


Now, I'm in Iowa and it's 30 degrees this morning. No wonder I'm sick.

King Cake

Tomorrow I've got 5th & 6th graders in Saturday School.

It's World Food and Cultures and I'm trying to work on the varied cultures and foods that we have right here in the US. What a better time than now to focus on New Orleans, Cajun, Creole & southern cultures that right now? It's Mardi Gras time!

We'll learn a little about what Mardi Gras is, do a word search, make our own custom Mardi Gras masks and enjoy chicken & sausage gumbo, king cake and sweet tea.

I think my first attempt at king cake went pretty well! It's smells fabulous.

Go See This Show

Baby Wants Candy.

It's a great show. You'll be laughing for the whole hour. It's no secret that I love Improv. I also love musicals. Musical Improv? You betcha!

You know, Improv is kinda a Chicago thing. Second City? Improv Olympics? There is a rich and vibrant improv community here and I'm pretty happy to be a part of it. My first performance is on March 8th. (I'm a little terrified.)

Essentially, the cast makes up a musical on the spot given a suggestion from the audience. Really. They sing, they dance (not well, mind you, but hilariously). It has all of the elements of a regular musical, it's just invented on the spot.

I was lucky enough to get free tickets for Friday's show. But, I would actually spend the $15 for the tickets. I brought my neighbor, Karin, along for the fun and I'm so glad we did!

The title of our musical was "Milk Alert -- 1992". What? Yes.

Lots of references to 1992, including the Clinton Administration, the early days of cell phones, the fall of the Berlin wall and oddly, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Throw in a good dose of teenage angst and conflicted love and you've got all of the makings of a great musical!

Baby Wants Candy is at the Apollo Theatre in Lincoln Park at 8 on Mondays and 10:30 on Fridays. I can't recommend it enough. You'll laugh your ass off! And, it's in a great neighborhood with lots of places for dinner ahead of time or drinks after (or before, or both).