Chicago part 2!

When we checked into our room at The Amalfi Hotel, this is what was waiting four us! My parents spoil us. The note said" Happy 3rd Anniversary! Only 40 years to go to catch up to Mom and Dad." The strawberries were a perfect snack before running out to start exploring the city.

Another snack. The Chicago Mix is cheddar and caramel popcorn. Mixed together! Ingenious and delicious.

The nerd in me pushed to go to the Museum of Science and Industry. T and I learned about weather phenonema, saw an exhibit about transportation, and learned about the only German U Boat captured during the war. Then we saw the boat. She is enormous.




Back in the sunshine!

The Bean!

Bonus points if you can find T and I in the reflection. :)

We woke up early on Saturday, shook off our food hangover and hoofed it over to the launch of the Architecture Boat Tour. I couldn't wait to float on the river for 90 minutes, but I had no idea how fascinating the tour would be and how much we would learn about Chicago and the buildings that come together to form the stunning skyline. I have more pictures of buildings than anything from the weekend. I'm only showing (boring you)with a few.

T was very excited to eat a hamburger at The Billy Goat Tavern, made famous in a SNL skit starring John Belushi and Bill Murray. The walls are papered in memoribilia and I had plenty of time to peruse since we had just come from Lou Malnatis and I was beyond full. T, a diehard Boston fan, doesn't believe in curses on sports but even he got a kick out of the story of the billy goat. Click here for the full story on the goat!



T and I had our first "date" in Chicago in 2001 and we hadn't been back since. I love this city. It's full of delicious architecture, beautiful food and it was a perfect choice to celebrate our third anniversary. We were able to cut loose, have plenty of adult beverages, lots of laughs and just enjoy being together. I just read a quote the other day that I loved, " The days are long but the time is short." In the last year, I've tried consciously to pay attention to my life and to enjoy the moments that make it up. T and I had a wonderful anniversary weekend together and are looking forward to what the next year may bring us. But in looking toward the horizon, we will make sure not to miss the little things and moments that make up each day.

Anniversary trip to Chicago...Part 1!

We celebrated our first and second anniversaries in NYC and decided to spice things up this year. My beloved and I planned this trip back in March around a dinner reservation we made for The Girl and The Goat in Chicago. Tables book three months out so we went for it. And waited anxiously to try out this hot, much talked about restaurant. Both the food and the city itself were better than expected! I'm going to break this into two separate posts, and we're starting with the good stuff. Hope you're hungry!

We checked into the hotel at 10:30 on Friday morning after the short flight from NYC. Our first meal stop was at Xoco, a Rick Bayless restaurant. His other two sit down restaurants around the corner already had long lines, so we were happy to wait at Xoco, and take our food to go. We both ordered Tortas, T went with the Chicken Tinga and I opted for the Choriqueso, chorizo with roasted poblanos and jack cheese. I'm not sure what they did to the roll, but the bread was delicious and hot out of the wood fired grill. We found a bench and went to town. We were off to a great food start!

After doing some sightseeing around Chicago, we headed back to the hotel for the complimentary happy hour. Relaxed after a few cocktails, we headed back out for our much anticipated dinner at The Girl and The Goat. The service was top notch from the moment we walked through the door. Our waitress was friendly and welcoming and explained the menu to us. It's a tapas style place and after some guidance from our waitress, we decided on 5 plates to share.

First up, Wood fired, tomahawk oysters with horseradish, bacon, and lemon. Yummy.

Just as we slurped down our last oyster, the Seared Scallops arrived. They were tender and resting in a brown butter sauce with bok choy, shittakes, and white asparagus. Our third plate was sauteed green beans. It sounds simple, but the sauce was out of this world. We're not sure what was in it, but I could have eaten it with a spoon. :)

We moved onto the goat courses. We couldn't have gone to a restaurant specializing in goat without sampling it. And wow, was it amazing.

Scallops

Goat plate #1: Goat ribs.
Our waitress told us that they were slow roasted for 12 hours and we could tell. The meat fell right off the bone and was so tender that it melted in our mouths.

Goat plate #2 was way too delicious to even snap a quick photo. It was Goat Sugo over fresh egg noodles. I wish I had enough words to explain how mind blowingly incredible this dish was. The noodles were so fresh and the sauce..OMG the sauce. Sugo is a meat sauce and this one used beef, pork, lamb, and goat. Slow cooked and strained, what is left is the pasta and the most flavorful sauce I've ever eaten. I wanted to dive into this bowl and never get out.

Goat ribs
The dessert menu was very impressive also. We decided on the Goat cheese bavarois over brown sugar cake with citrus blueberries and marcona caramel. They even put a candle in it in honor of our anniversary!




We had looked forward to this meal for such a long time and I was worried that it wouldn't live up to what I had built it up to be. But it far surpassed all of my expectations. The atmosphere was fun and loud with diners sharing plates and sharing laughs. T and I split a bottle of wine and left the restaurant happily content, full but not stuffed, and ready to make another reservation.

Major thumbs up for The Girl and The Goat and chef Stephanie Izzard! http://www.thegirlandthegoat.com/



We woke up Saturday raring to go. We hung out on the river and learned about Chicago on the Architecture Boat Tour. After the 90 minute tour, our stomachs were ready for some other Chicago specialties. So we headed off to Lou Malnatis for deep dish pizza. We had polled our friends from Chicago about where to get the best and most authentic Chicago style deep dish and got the same answer from everyone. Lou Malnatis it was. We arrived at 11:30 and were worried about being too early for lunch, but 10 minutes after we were seated, people began pouring in. Soon the wait was 40 minutes. We were halfway through our deep dish by then. This pizza is a hot, gooey, delicious mess. T and I were very impresed. We couldn't help but have seconds even though we were completely stuffed by that point. It was just too good!



We did some wandering after pizza in an attempt to digest! I picked up some popcorn from Garretts, a Chicago institution. I was way too full to even think about eating popcorn at that point but I was happy to have it for later. I bought the Chicago mix, a bag that is half cheddar and half caramel corn. Yummo. It was a perfect lunch during our flight home on Sunday. :)

We grabbed a last minute reservation for Saturday night at Pelago. http://www.pelagorestaurant.com/.

T loved his roasted filet of stiped bass with potatoes, leeks and plum tomatoes. I went with pasta, a cappalletti with riccotta and spinach. The restaurant was very chic, decorated in almost all white. We struck up a conversation with our table neighbors, a couple visiting from Oslo, Norway. They were in the second leg of their three week US tour, scheduled to fly out the following day to Phoenix and explore the West Coast. I gave them all of my best travel tips for San Francisco and the wine country.


T and I finished off our Saturday night with a trip to the Signature Lounge on the 96th floor of the Hancock Building. http://www.signatureroom.com/. With drinks fancy enough for our surroundings, we checked out the view and enjoyed the atmosphere. And the dizzying heights. The views were incredible, but I was ready to go back to ground level after our first round.



Our favorite trips include lots of local food favorites and regional specialties. This trip was full of both. T and I had a great time exploring the city and can't wait to go back!



Sightseeing pictures to come soon!

3 years ago today...

I married my best friend. I'm convinced that our meeting was scripted. T was always the one that was supposed to be by my side, the one I would build a beautiful life with. We've hit some bumps along the way and we have only grown closer. I know that with him next to me, I will be safe and loved. Always.

We met as kids in Las Vegas. I had just turned 24 and had just started to experience life.

On a gorgeous San Francisco day in July 2008, we exchanged vows in front of 70 of our family and friends. It marked the first and only time that our families and friends had the chance to be in the same place. It was amazing to me to look out and see every person that I loved and every person that loved us. I cherish that day and the overwhelming love that I felt.




This has been the most challenging year that I've had to face and I have made it through, thanks to my husband who is an absolute rock and my very best friend. I have learned that with him by my side, I can get through anything. He will always be there to prop me up, as I will for him. We are partners. He is my strength when I am faltering. He is the person that I want to see when I am the most happy and the person I want to hug when I'm feeling down. He always has the right words.

On this day, three years ago, he made me my happiest self.

And today when I came home and gave him the hug I can't wait to give him every day, he said, "Thank you for marrying me." And I said, "thank you for asking. "

Happy Anniversary sweetheart. I cherish every day with you and I hope we have a million more.

PM Status

T and I trade emails during the day titled incredibly nerdy things. AM Status. PM Status. This is code for "How is your day?"

So, my PM Status tonight is great. I've been feeling really good. Light. Happy even. I feel content and at peace, which are feelings I wasn't sure that I would feel again.

In my corner of the world, it's been sunny and hot but not too humid. I am the proud owner of my first iphone and I am already obsessed with it. That is when I can pry it out of T's hands .

We are packing up for a weekend-o-fun, which includes a 35th birthday party, a Red Sox game (for T) and a girls night out (me.) We'll get to spend some time with T's family and I'll get to get to spend some time in Boston with some great girlfriends.

I tried a new recipe tonight and am taking a break from tasting (trying not to devour) my homemade caramel sauce to write this post. Seriously, I had no idea that caramel sauce was so easy and could be so delicious. It's part of a fun new recipe that I'll finish up and share with you.

I'm having a blast watching the lightning bugs flit around our lawn.

Did I mention that the kitchen is done?!

Status is great.

Dear Friends,

Guess what?

This is the last handle on the last cabinet door. They're painted, planed, sanded, hung, and handled. Done done done done done! I freakin love them. I love this entire kitchen. And I can't believe it's ours.

Since we crossed this giant project off the list, I'm not sure what to do next! We took ourselves out to lunch to celebrate, 4th of July style. This local diner was featured on one of our favorite shows, Diners Drive ins, and Dives. We drool over the places that host Guy Fieri takes us and this one is in our own backyard. It did not disappoint.




Happy 4th of July everyone!

Saturday

It's hard to tell from the photo exactly how bad our deck looks. The green...by the way, who paints their deck? And who paints their deck to match their house? Puke...Anyway, The green paint on our deck is worn away in spots and flaking off in others. We would love to spend time out there without coming in with a shoe full of green splinters so we decided it was time to switch to a more normal looking deck. I rented the nifty drum sander for the weekend, hoping that the already flaking paint would come off really easily. That didn't turn out to be the case.

I came home from a blissful yoga session to find T and the drum sander working hard. I finished my iced coffee and jumped into the fray. We had been at it for an hour or so and realized that we weren't making a lot of progress. Since the deck boards aren't completely flat, the paint was wedged in the crevices. Our neighbor came over with a solution.

He lent us his power washer. The washer was more effective and much faster. It didn't take everything off but it came close. We may still have to do some spot sanding to get it all off. For being so flaky, that stuff was a bear to get off.

After we were sufficiently tired and covered with water and paint chips, we headed inside. I put a coat of paint on the top of our kitchen hutch and T put our guest bedframe together. T's mom gave it to us and it's been in our basement, patiently awaiting the day it would graduate to the second floor. This is our Blue Room, the one room upstairs that has not been painted.


A frosty end to a very busy Saturday.


We're taking a break from home stuff tomorrow with a trip to NYC. Happy weekend!